Women and political parties in Spain: party strategies and their institutional impact, 1978-2004

Abstract

This article examines in depth the answer that the three main state-wide Spanish political parties (Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, Popular Party and United Left) have given to the demand for a gender balanced presence in representative offices; a demand which greatly concerns political parties as, among their operative functions, they are in charge of the recruitment of political elites and candidate selection which finally determines the configuration of political institutions. In particular, it analyzes the strategies implemented by political parties since the inauguration of democracy in 1978 and studies their effects on the presence of women holding top posts in internal party bodies and representative institutions. The increase in women’s representation has been due to exogenous factors (electoral rivalry among parties, competition for women’s vote, etc.) as well as to internal reasons such as the political ideology of the party, the creation of feminist lobbies inside the parties and the introduction of quotas.