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The primary purpose of this dissertation is to examine and analyze the intersection of multiple modes of women's participation and policymaking with democratizing processes in Latin America's emerging democracies. How have women participating inside and outside of institutional politics in Latin America influenced policymaking? Have procedural democratic transitions and consolidations benefited women? In what ways have strides been made toward transformative forms of democracy that include notions of equality and justice for women?
My hypotheses posit that in order for women to get their political demands met and policy advances implemented, they need to participate in higher numbers in legislatures, while at the same time continue to work across party, organizational, insider/outsider lines to build support for their interests. However if their issues challenge sociocultural or religious societal values, they will have less success. Using concepts from social movement theory, and US and comparative policy analysis, I develop a political and policy process model to test the hypotheses, using five gendered policy issues in Mexico over the time period of 1968 to 2000: (1) sex crimes reforms, (2) affirmative action quotas for women on electoral lists, (3) sexual harassment, (4) discrimination against pregnant workers and (5) decriminalization of abortion.
I find that indeed multiple forms of women's participation are most effective in policymaking and overseeing implementation and overall women's efforts in these five issue areas have resulted in symbolic gains. The comparison of the political and policy processes indicate that changes in procedural democracy are necessary for change for women, but not sufficient for making transformative democratic changes.
This study contributes to the area of comparative politics by modeling multiple methods of comparison, and how quantitative and qualitative, cross-national and single country case studies can complement one another. In the Latin American politics literature my study offers a peek into the black box of policymaking in Mexico—from a gender perspective. For gender and politics, my mixing of American and comparative studies, concepts and tools with Latin American data invites readers from different regions to explore beyond their own borders—be they of discipline, nation or otherwise.