Beyond gender parity and laws, violence against women in politics as a persisten problem: A Comparative Study of Women and Men Candidates from Bolivia’s Local and National Elections (2020-2021)

How are experiences of running for office affected by candidates’ gender in the presence and absence of gender quotas? Quota laws have been introduced as a solution for women’s political underrepresentation. However, despite improving women’s descriptive representation by increasing the number of women candidates, it is not clear if quotas have an effect on the selection and campaign experiences of women running for office, particularly regarding violence against political women. Drawing from 36 interviews with women and men candidates for national (with quotas) and local (without quotas) before the elections and two focus groups post-elections, this paper offers evidence of gender’s prevalence in defining how women and men candidates approach and experience elections differently. In particular, and despite Bolivia’s law against gender-political violence, women are still experiencing violence in all stages of the electoral process. The presence of quotas lowers the entry bar for women, increasing the value of their particular background. Yet, parties still retain a gate-keeping role over women’s candidacies. When they are not forced to nominate women, they tend to select men and prefer women with trajectories similar to their male counterparts. Moreover, women identify their co-partisans and the party structures as the main perpetrators of violence. They constantly feel that their candidacy is threatened and are harassed by their party challengers. Regarding the campaign process, quota laws do not reduce voters’ gender bias and symbolic violence. Women still walk a thin line between the negative and positive consequences of their gender. On the one hand, because they are women, candidates are perceived as transparent and capable of redistributing goods and administrating the economy. On the other, contrary to men, women’s leadership is constantly questioned; they even face backlash that stems from other women’s wrongdoings. This is more prevalent among women of indigenous backgrounds. The paper gives particular attention to how stereotypes and prejudice about indigenous women are weaponized to prevent them from becoming candidates or being elected.