Work

Women and Candidate Quality in the Elections for the Senate: Brazil and the United States in Comparative Perspective

Year: 2007

Type: article

Abstract: The Senate remains as an almost uncharted territory for women. And not only in re-democratized countries like Brazil, but also in advanced democracies such as the USA. To date, 33 American and 28 Brazilian women have served in their Senates. Why are these numbers so reduced? This article discusses the key obstacles that women face and, through OLS and probit analyses, examines the degree of competitiveness and rate of success of all candidacies. We show that, even though women are thought to be weak contestants, they can be as competitive as men when they have a record of elected public positions. The reduced availability of the latter, however, indicates that they are still far from increasing their presence in the Senate.

Source: Brazilian Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1590/1981-3831200700020003

Author: Simone R. Bohn

Institution: York University

Language: English

Topic: Gender Politics and Representation

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Gender equality

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $456