How female politicians are boycotted by Brazilian parties

Since 2010, Brazil’s electoral legislation has ordered that women must comprise at least 30 percent of the candidates running for office for each political party. Time has shown, however, that parties have had trouble complying with that rule. In several cases, candidates register their own family members (sometimes, even without their knowledge) just to make up the quotas required by law.

The lack of commitment to gender equality in politics on behalf of Brazil’s political parties might explain why candidacies have grown by large numbers since the new rules began being enforced, but there has been no impact on how many women are actually elected into office.

Upon measuring the...