Spain

In Western countries, the gender gap in political representation has been the object of increased attention by scholars, politicians and the public. In response to a growing expectation that women should be more fully represented in political life, some political parties have adopted internal mechanisms to increase the presence of women among the parliamentarian elite. In other instances, countries reformed their electoral laws in order to feminize the political elite. Spain is no exception to this pattern. Some Spanish parties have gender quotas and some legislative attempts to modify the electoral laws have been discussed (and up to now defeated) at the national and regional level.1 The aim of this chapter is three-fold: to test whether Spanish women are discriminated against while trying to enter the parliamentary elite, to examine demand-side explanations that maintain that women as a group do not have enough resources to obtain an egalitarian representation in elected institutions, and to study the differences (if any) between female and male members of the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament (the Chamber of Deputies, Congreso de los Diputados) with respect to their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work. In assessing these three aspects of the elective process, we mainly analyse two types of empirical data: lists of candidates in the 2000 general elections; and information on female and male deputies in the 2000-2004 legislative term. First, we offer a general overview of the Spanish political system and the situation and evolution of women’s role in politics in Spain, and more specifically of female members of the Spanish parliament (MPs). Second, we review the (scant) literature on the under-representation of Spanish women in Parliament. Third, we use empirical data to test some demand-side and supply-side explanatory factors of women’s unequal parliamentary representation in Spain. More concretely, we study whether it is possible to affirm that women are discriminated against while trying to become deputies; the potential impact of the size of the electoral district on women’s chances to become MPs; and whether the lower education level of women (as a group) is an obstacle for them to be parliamentarians. Finally, we analyse the differences (if any) between female and male Spanish deputies concerning their socio-economic characteristics and their parliamentary work.