The gender of representation: On democracy, equality, and parity*
** Lecturer in constitutional law, University of Seville, Spain. Email: blancarr{at}us.es
*** Associate professor of constitutional law, University of Seville, Spain. Email: rrubio{at}us.es
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Abstract |
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The debate regarding the statutory introduction of gender parity in electoral lists has been led, on the one hand, by those who envisage parity as a way to attain substantive equality between the genders. The opposition has been led by those who, on the other hand, reject it as going against the very principle of equality in its formal dimension, as well as against the autonomy of political parties. Based on the experience of France and Italy on this matter, this article discusses both sets of arguments and applies them to the Spanish context. It further defends the need to bypass the theoretical parameters of equality and affirmative action in order to place the defense of electoral parity within the theoretical parameters of the postliberal democratic state. It aims, therefore, at articulating electoral parity as a conceptual requisite of the democratic state.
* This article is adapted in part from Blanca Rodríguez Ruiz & Ruth Rubio-Marín, De la Paridad, la Igualdad y la Representación en el Estado Democrático, 81 Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional 115–159 (2007). We would like to express our gratitude to Ana Rubio Castro and Michel Rosenfeld as well as to our colleagues José Ma Morales Arroyo y Javier Pérez Royo, all of whom have read earlier versions of this work and have offered enriching comments. A special thanks to Miguel Angel Presno Linera for his meticulous engagement and contribution to this paper. Many thanks to Sarah Smith for her thorough and thoughtful translation.