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Organizational Repertoires for Advancing Women’s Rights: An Analysis of Structures, Groups and Policies in National Legislatures in Latin America and the Caribbean

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Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America

Abstract

This chapter addresses two central issues that affect women’s substantive representation in Latin America and that have been previously overlooked: legislator’s collective action and networks and the emergence of a gender agenda justified on the basis of women’s human rights. The authors examine, empirically, two salient strategies considered among the most prevalent among feminist and women’s movements: first, the creation and expansion of a gender legislative machinery at the national level in alliance with supranational actors (particularly agencies of the United Nations System), and second, the construction of, and participation in, advocacy networks of regional scope that have an influence on the domestic legislative agenda. The chapter is based on original data from 18 countries of the region from 2007 to 2013 to show the transformation of their gender machineries in parliament and reveal an ongoing policy network dedicated to women’s rights issues.

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Gustá, A.L.R., Madera, N. (2017). Organizational Repertoires for Advancing Women’s Rights: An Analysis of Structures, Groups and Policies in National Legislatures in Latin America and the Caribbean. In: Došek, T., Freidenberg, F., Caminotti, M., Muñoz-Pogossian, B. (eds) Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America. Crossing Boundaries of Gender and Politics in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95009-6_6

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