Women in congress and the substantive representation of women in Chile

Abstract: The topic of this research are the linkages between the descriptive and the substantive representation of women. The research questions seek to explore 1. in how far and on what basis women in parliament represent women and women's issues and how women in civil society perceive this 2. what obstacles to the work of women in congress are identified 3. to what extent women in Chilean congress work amongst each other and over organizational barriers with women's organizations and SERNAM and lastly 4. how the findings on the questions above relate and contribute to the broader debate on mediating factors between DRW and SRW and what conclusions on the potential impact of a quota on these factors they allow. For this purpose, this field study involved interviews conducted in April and May 2015 in Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso as well as one via Skype. The interviewees were seven current and recent female members of the Chilean congress as well as five representatives from reputable women's organizations. Furthermore, the extensive literature on the topic as well as reports on the issue of gender equality were reviewed. The method applied was qualitative and abductive. No theory-testing was involved, instead the approach was exploratory and theories and analytical frameworks were used as inspiration for interview questions in an abductive way. The results of this study shed light on six variables drawn from the research debate, the role of women's diversity, the impact of their attitudes towards the representation of women, tokenism, 'women's issues', feminist triangles and here also the relation of legislators to feminism, and finally the impact of numbers on all variables. Specifically feminist triangles reveal a wealth of interactions and potential for the promotion of enhancing SRW in ways contingent and non-contingent on DRW.