The Gatekeepers of the Access to Politics: Study on Political Parties’ Organic Charters in Río Negro from a Gender Perspective

Abstract

In 2002, the province of Río Negro approved the “gender equivalence” for the conformation of the lists to legislative positions. Although the presence of women in the provincial legislaturehas increased since then, effective parity has not yet been achieved. This is so, in part, because of the design and characteristics of the provincial mixed electoral systemand because the political parties,which reserving for them selves the monopoly in the selection of the candidates and the composition of the electoral lists, have implemented a “minimalist compliance” of the regulations of quotas and parity. The objective of this article is to analyze the role of political parties, in the conditions of access and participation of women in elective positions, based on a qualitative study of the organic charts of the parties formally recognized in the province ofRioNegro and fromin-depth interviews with women politicians in the province who held legislative positions (local, provincial and / or national).