Brazilian women competing for a seat in the local legislative

Abstract

The goal of this article is to understand the pattern of the Brazilian women’s participation in the election for the local councils, especially when it comes to the volume of female candidacies, their success, the integration of women into the political parties and the efficacy of the quotas for women. The data show that, contrary to the election for the Câmara dos Deputados and despite the rise of the leftist parties, most women run for councilwomen and get elected in rightist parties. Furthermore, the quotas for women are not effective at the national and subnational levels, neither are they when the level of analysis is the city. Finally, the key deterrent to the increase in the female presence in the formal political arena remains the same: the low supply of women involved in the electoral process.