The Puzzle of Chile’s Resilient Support for Gender Parity

The Puzzle of Chile’s Resilient Support for Gender Parity

By Catherine Reyes-Housholder, Political Science Institute, Pontifical Catholic University, Julieta Suárez-Cao, Political Science Institute, Pontifical Catholic University and Javiera Arce-Riffo, University College London, United Kingdom; Instituto de Economía Aplicada Regional (IDEAR), Universidad Católica del Norte

Chile’s 2021–22 Constitutional Convention was the first in the world to feature mechanisms that guaranteed gender parity among constituents (Arce and Suárez-Cao 2021). This was not an easy win. Feminist activists and women politicians pushed for gender parity in 2020-21 in a country that had adopted gender quotas relatively late (Figueroa 2021; Reyes-Housholder, Suárez-Cao, and Le Foulon 2023; Suárez-Cao 2023; personal interview #1, April 21, 2023). Reserving seats for Indigenous groups and using other mechanisms to allow space for independent constituents further broadened the convention’s ostensible inclusiveness. After the September 2022 rejection of the 2021–22 Constitutional Convention’s draft, political parties immediately started over by crafting an elite-controlled process. Lawmakers—this time with surprising speed—again coalesced around the idea that an equal number of men and women should write the new draft.