Social indicators and electoral system's impacts on women's chances in elections and their interactions with the mechanism of quotas

Abstract

Women's representation in the Brazilian Câmara dos Deputados [House of Representatives] has been growing in the last two decades, but it is still the smaller in South America, and is not directly associated to the degree of socioeconomic development of the country's Regions and Federative Units. The policy of quotas, as formulated by the law no 9.504/97, has been presenting shy results, for the causes of low feminine presence in politics are various. The multivariable analysis has indicated the variables that affect the most the chances of election. Reelection appeared as the main determinant of electoral success. However, the parties' dynamics and their interaction with the types of districts and the electoral logic of the states affect the women's chances of election.