Who they are, where they come from and where they are going: Professional background and political ambition of Ecuadorian women legislators, 1979-2017

This article examines the differences in socio-demographics, professional backgrounds, and political careers between women and men who were part of the Ecuadorian Congress, 1979-2017. We propose a descriptive statistical study in which, through a bivariate analysis, we compare women and men in terms of age, marital status, professional qualifications, and political ambition before and after their participation in Congress. Based on an unpublished database, the main empirical findings indicate that the differences between them are not statistically significant. Nevertheless, since the implementation of the Parity Law in 2009, women legislators are increasingly younger and single, with more academic training and previous political experience than their male colleagues. This work covers the lack of diachronic studies, focuses on a novel case, and corrects shortcomings in previous research, obtaining more conclusive information on the subject matter. Keywords: Women legislators, Parity Law, Ecuador, Representation, Democracy, Bivariate analysis Este articulo se propone analizar las diferencias sociodemograficas, antecedentes profesionales y carreras politicas entre mujeres y hombres que formaron parte del Congreso ecuatoriano, 1979-2017. Proponemos un estudio estadistico descriptivo en el que, mediante un analisis bivariado, comparamos a mujeres y hombres en terminos de edad, estado civil, cualificacion profesional y ambicion politica antes y despues de su participacion en el Congreso. Basado en una base de datos propia e inedita, los principales hallazgos empiricos indican que las diferencias entre ellos no son estadisticamente significativas. Sin embargo, desde la implementacion de la Ley de Paridad en 2009, las legisladoras son cada vez mas jovenes y solteras, con mas formacion academica y experiencia politica previa que sus colegas masculinos. Este trabajo cubre la falta de estudios diacronicos, se centra en un caso novedoso y corrige defectos de investigaciones anteriores, obteniendo informacion mas concluyente en torno al tema tratado. Palabras claves: Mujeres legisladoras, Ley de paridad, Ecuador, Representacion, Democracia, Analisis bivariado
Introduction Studies on women representatives in different political decision-making arenas have evolved in different directions - some works focus on the effects of quota laws about the increase of women [...]