Quotas for Women in the Brazilian Legislative System Clara Araújo Professor at the Department of Social Sciences State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Email:
[email protected] PAPER PRESENTED AT INTERNATIONAL IDEA WORKSHOP The Implementation of Quotas: Latin American Experiences Lima, Peru, 23–24 February 2003 In 1996, Brazil joined other Latin American countries in adopting mandatory quotas for lists of proportional representation candidacies. The first experience involved the Chamber of the Council, the equivalent of local legislative power. In 1998, mandatory quotas began to be applied at the federal and regional levels. This paper evaluates the initial results of the application of gender quotas in the Brazilian legislative competition. It is based on research beginning in 1996, and it aims to assess both the process and the impact of the quota system.1 The results of the 1992 municipal elections, prior to the adoption of quotas, are compared with those of 1996 and 2000, after the quota system was in place. The Federal Chamber and the State Assemblies are studied via a comparison of four elections, in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002. The first two elections preceded the adoption of quotas. The first part of this paper briefly introduces the politics surrounding quotas and the position of the women’s movement in recent decades. It is followed by a broad review of the process that led to the adoption of quotas in Brazil. The third part deals with the electoral results in quantitative terms. The final segment attempts to identify some of the factors that have influenced these results up to the present day.