Abstract in English

Some people have told me that they are bummed that they won't be able to read my research paper because it is Spanish. Luckily, the abstract is in English. So here you go:


Resumen

No matter what other circumstances exist, there cannot be true democracy without the representation of all sectors of society, especially a sector that makes over half of the population. In Chile, women have suffered the consequences of unequal political representation since the creation of the state and unfortunately, this phenomenon continues today. In fact, Chilean women hold only sixteen percent of popularly elected offices. Thus, the agendas of Chilean women continue to be under-prioritised and the lack of women in political office remains unaddressed. Although there are groups of non-governmental organizations, activists, and politicians working to increase women’s political representation in Chile, their efforts are limited by lack of resources and social awareness combined with structural barriers.

This independent research project set out to examine the gap between what would need to be done in order to bring about equitable representation of women in the political realm and the steps that are actually being taken. The paper begins with a presentation of an explanation of the split between autonomous and political feminists and how that divergence affects the situation of today. In order to comprehend the environment in which the battle for increased representation of women is occurring. The essay goes on to discuss the major challenges, both structural and social, and the tendencies of feminine representation since the transition to democracy in Chile. From there, the findings of the report are demonstrated. First, the essay explains the circumstances, reforms, and campaigns necessary in order to make equal representation of women a possibility. In goes on from there to present the various actions that are actually being taken to bring about that goal. Finally, the paper compares the required and in-process actions in order to demonstrate the overarching breach.

The actions necessary to make a substantial change range from widespread social campaigns to reforms in the electoral system; however, these types of large scale steps are not currently under way in Chile. Thus, this investigation concludes that the breach between what would need to be done and what is actually being done is quite substantial and thus Chile is not currently set in the direction of gender equity in politics.