ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the various politicial and legal mechanisms that exist to incorporate gender into the law and policymaking processes in Spain and assesses the reasons for their limited effectiveness to date. The law and policy-making processes in Spain are mostly in the hands of the government and the bureaucratic apparatus. The Public Administration plays a very important role in the process of law and policy-making as a whole. In the early 1980s, women barely participated in politics, and were poorly informed about political issues. Women's rate of participation in the current legislature and the European Parliament has, however, improved. The Institute de la Mujer (IM) is responsible for preparing the Equal Opportunities Plans which set out Spain's gender equality goals and objectives over three year periods. The IM became operational, there has been an attempt to involve most Ministries in the task of promoting equality for women.
