Gender Quotas Database
Mexico
Central America
Single / Lower House
Cámara de Diputados / Chamber of Deputies
| Total seats | 500 |
| Total women | 252 |
| Percentage of women | 50% |
| Election year | 2021 |
| Electoral system | MMP |
| Quota type | Legislated Candidate Quotas |
| Election details | IDEA Voter Turnout - IPU Parline |
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas | Constitution |
The political parties’ main objectives shall be: ... c) to allow access by citizens to public power, according to their programs, principles and ideas and through universal, free, secret and direct vote, as well as the rules to guarantee gender equality on candidates to local and federal Congress. (Article 41.1) |
| Electoral law |
Gender parity: Political equality between women and men, guaranteed with the allocation of 50% women and 50% men in candidates for popularly elected positions and in appointments to positions by designation. (Article 3d. bis) Political parties will promote and guarantee parity between genders in the nomination of candidates for popularly elected positions for the integration of the Congress of the Union, the Congresses of the Federal Entities, the lists of City Councils and the Mayor's Offices. (Article 232.3) Of all registration requests, both of the candidacies for local and federal councils, senatorial offices, as well as the forms for City Councils and Mayor's Offices submitted by political parties or coalitions to the Institute and local public organizations, as appropriate, they must be integrated, safeguarding the parity between genders mandated in the Constitution. (Article 233)
Each political party will determine and make public the criteria to guarantee gender parity in candidacies for federal and local legislatures, as well as in the integration of City Councils and Mayor's Offices, in the case of Mexico City. These must be objective and ensure conditions of substantive equality between women and men. (Article 4.3 - Political Parties Law) |
|
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | Electoral law |
The Institute and Local Public Bodies, within the scope of their powers, must reject the registration of the number of candidates of a gender that does not guarantee the principle of parity, setting the party a non-extendable period for their replacement. If they are not replaced, said records will not be accepted. (Article 232.4) |
| Rank order/placement rules | Electoral law |
Candidates for both local and federal deputies and senators to be elected by the principle of relative majority and by the principle of proportional representation, will be registered by formulas of candidates each composed of an owner and a substitute of the same gender, and formulas and candidates will be considered separately, except for voting purposes. (Article 232.2) |
| Is the provision of direct public funding to political parties related to gender equality among candidates? | Yes |
Incentives are in place for political parties to comply with gender equality legislation. If political parties mismanage the public funds earmarked for gender activities and development of female leadership, they risk de-registration. In addition, political parties risk losing up to 50% of their allocated public funds for any infractions related to non-compliance with obligations to prevent, address and eradicate political violence against women on the basis of gender. See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
| Are there provisions for other financial advantages to encourage gender equality in political parties? | Yes, funds earmarked for gender activities |
3% of regularly provided public funding is earmarked towards female leadership development within the political parties. See more in International IDEA's Political Finance database |
Upper House
Cámara de Senadores / Senate
| Total seats | 128 |
| Total women | 64 |
| Percentage of women | 50% |
| Election year | 2018 |
| Electoral system | MMP |
| Quota type | Legislated Candidate Quotas |
| Election details | IPU Parline |
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas | Constitution |
The political parties’ main objectives shall be: ... c) to allow access by citizens to public power, according to their programs, principles and ideas and through universal, free, secret and direct vote, as well as the rules to guarantee gender equality on candidates to local and federal Congress. (Article 41.1) |
| Electoral law |
Gender parity: Political equality between women and men, guaranteed with the allocation of 50% women and 50% men in candidates for popularly elected positions and in appointments to positions by designation. (Article 3d. bis) Political parties will promote and guarantee parity between genders in the nomination of candidates for popularly elected positions for the integration of the Congress of the Union, the Congresses of the Federal Entities, the lists of City Councils and the Mayor's Offices. (Article 232.3) Of all registration requests, both of the candidacies for local and federal councils, senatorial offices, as well as the forms for City Councils and Mayor's Offices submitted by political parties or coalitions to the Institute and local public organizations, as appropriate, they must be integrated, safeguarding the parity between genders mandated in the Constitution. (Article 233)
Each political party will determine and make public the criteria to guarantee gender parity in candidacies for federal and local legislatures, as well as in the integration of City Councils and Mayor's Offices, in the case of Mexico City. These must be objective and ensure conditions of substantive equality between women and men. (Article 4.3 - Political Parties Law) |
|
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | Electoral law |
The Institute and Local Public Bodies, within the scope of their powers, must reject the registration of the number of candidates of a gender that does not guarantee the principle of parity, setting the party a non-extendable period for their replacement. If they are not replaced, said records will not be accepted. (Article 232.4) |
| Rank order/placement rules | Electoral law |
Candidates for both local and federal deputies and senators to be elected by the principle of relative majority and by the principle of proportional representation, will be registered by formulas of candidates each composed of an owner and a substitute of the same gender, and formulas and candidates will be considered separately, except for voting purposes. (Article 232.2) |
Quota at the Sub-National Level
| Quota type | Legislated Candidate Quotas |
| Legal source | Details | |
|---|---|---|
| Quota type: Legislated Candidate Quotas | Constitution |
The political parties’ main objectives shall be: ... c) to allow access by citizens to public power, according to their programs, principles and ideas and through universal, free, secret and direct vote, as well as the rules to guarantee gender equality on candidates to local and federal Congress. (Article 41.1) |
| Electoral law |
Gender parity: Political equality between women and men, guaranteed with the allocation of 50% women and 50% men in candidates for popularly elected positions and in appointments to positions by designation. (Article 3d. bis) Political parties will promote and guarantee parity between genders in the nomination of candidates for popularly elected positions for the integration of the Congress of the Union, the Congresses of the Federal Entities, the lists of City Councils and the Mayor's Offices. (Article 232.3) Of all registration requests, both of the candidacies for local and federal councils, senatorial offices, as well as the forms for City Councils and Mayor's Offices submitted by political parties or coalitions to the Institute and local public organizations, as appropriate, they must be integrated, safeguarding the parity between genders mandated in the Constitution. (Article 233) Each political party will determine and make public the criteria to guarantee gender parity in candidacies for federal and local legislatures, as well as in the integration of City Councils and Mayor's Offices, in the case of Mexico City. These must be objective and ensure conditions of substantive equality between women and men. (Article 4.3 - Political Parties Law) |
|
| Legal sanctions for non-compliance | Electoral law |
The Institute and Local Public Bodies, within the scope of their powers, must reject the registration of the number of candidates of a gender that does not guarantee the principle of parity, setting the party a non-extendable period for their replacement. If they are not replaced, said records will not be accepted. (Artilce 232.4) |
| Rank order/placement rules | State regulations |
Elections at the sub-national level are regulated by each state. Please see additional information. |
Voluntary Political Party Quotas*
| Party | Official Name | Details, Quota provisions |
|---|---|---|
| No data available. | ||
* Only political parties represented in parliament are included. When a country has legislated quotas in place, only political parties that have voluntary quotas that exceed the percentage/number of the national quota legislation are presented in this table.
Additional information
In February 2014, Mexico passed a constitutional amendment to the Article 41 of the Federal Constitution requiring that that political parties develop "...rules to ensure gender parity in the nomination of candidates in federal and local congressional elections." This amendment marks a critical improvement over the past constitutional requirement of 40-60 % representation of either sex in the Assembly, and requires parity and alternation between women and men on parties’ candidate lists. According to the OAS Preliminary Report on the 2018 Mexican elections, the constitutional amendment gave way for legal reforms and that "Mexico has developed a robust body of legislation to ensure gender parity and equality, which has been accompanied by effective action by the electoral bodies." The results from the 2018 elections saw a significant increase of women in both parliament and senate. Although the legal provisions have been effective in increasing women's political participation, they do not apply to the single-member posts, women are still in clear minority (as in the presidential election) which shows the remaining barriers for women to participate on equal grounds.
“Mexico is only the third country in Latin America to enact a gender parity law for its national legislature and is proud to have the highest percentage of women in the Senate and fourth-highest in the House of Representatives of any Latin American country. While the previous round of reforms had increased the minimum quota of women from 30 percent of the list to 40 percent, parties were avoiding the quota by holding primary elections, a loophole that is now closed.”
“Within the framework of the previous federal electoral process (2012), and because of the parties’ lack of compliance with the gender quota when nominating candidates—due to the application of a selection process based on the democratic processes foreseen by their statutes—the Electoral Court of the Judicial Power of the Federation passed a sentence that solved the supremacy of the gender quota over any other internal selection procedure to nominate candidates used by the political parties, including the internal elections.” The Assembly set 30 April 2014 as the deadline for developing a set of amendments to the electoral legislation to set out detailed rules for implementing this constitutional amendment through laws regulating electoral processes and the operation of political parties.
On June 6, 2021, Mexico implemented its constitutional mandate for “gender parity in everything” for the first time. In 2018, women won half the seats in Mexico’s Congress. Mexico championed a groundbreaking constitutional reform: gender parity for all candidates for elected office, and for top posts in the executive and judicial branches. Called “parity in everything,” the reform sailed to victory in May 2019. Not a single member of Congress voted against it (MSMagazine, 2021).
Sources
LEGAL SOURCES:
OTHER SOURCES:
- Parliament of Mexico - Link
- Electoral Commission - Link
- Gender Equality Strategy 2023-2025 - Link
- Local Government Country Profile (UN Women) - Link
- Baldez, L. (2007). ‘Primaries vs. Quotas: Gender and Candidate Nominations in Mexico, 2003’ Latin American Politics and Society, 49/3
- Olivia Peña,B. and León Ramos, A. (2017). "Atenea: Mecanismo de aceleración de la Participación Política de las Mujeres en América Latina y el Caribe. La democracia paritaria en México: avances y desafíos" Mexico: Atenea, International IDEA, ONU Mujeres and UNDP.
- Cabrales, J. (n.d.). “Gender and constitutionalism in Mexico: from quotas to parity?” ConstitutionNet - International IDEA.
- Cerva Cerna, D. (2008). ‘Los partidos políticos frente a la equidad de género’ , in B. Llanos and K. Sample (eds), Del dicho al hecho: manual de buenas practicas para la participación de mujeres en los partidos políticos latinoamericanos . Stockholm: International IDEA.
- Cerva Cerna, D. (2015). "Más allá de los Números: Las Mujeres Transforman el Poder Legislativo en América Latina y el Caribe. Estudio del País: México" UNDP in collaboration with the Spanish Government.
- Llanos, B. (2019). “Surcando olas y contra-olas. Una mirada paritaria a los derechos políticos de las mujeres en América Latina”. Atenea, International IDEA, ONU Mujeres, UNDP.
- Peschard, J. (2003). ‘Quota Implementation in Mexico’, in The Implementation of Quotas: Latin American Experiences, Quota Report Series no. 2 (Stockholm: International IDEA, 2003
- Zetterberg, P. (2012). ‘Quotas and Women’s Symbolic Representation: Lessons from Mexico’, in S. Franceschet, M. L. Krook and J. Piscopo (eds), The Impact of Gender Quotas. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Additional reading
- See the latest updates on Mexico on iKNOW Politics
- Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexico. (Official Website)
- Zermeño, F. & Hevia Rocha,T. (2013)."Participación política de las mujeres en México. A 60 años del reconocimiento del derecho al voto femenino" Mexico: Atenea, International IDEA, ONU Mujeres and UNDP.
- Baldez, L. (2004).‘Obedecieron y Cumplieran? The Impact of the Gender Quota Law in Mexico’, paper presented at the XXV International Congress of Latin America Studies Association, Las Vegas.
- Bartra, E. 2002. ‘Três Décades de Neofeminismo en México’ in E. Bartra, A. Poncela and A. Lau (eds) Feminismo en México, Ayer y Hoy, Colección Molinos de Viento, Serie Mayor 130, Cuidad de México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana.
- Htun, M. N. &, Jones, M. P. (2002). ‘Engendering the Right to Participate in Decision-Making: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America.’ Craske, N. & Molyneux, M. (ed.) Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America. New York: Palgrave. pp. 32-56.
- Htun, Mala N. 2002. Women in Political Power in Latin America. Manuscript.
- Lovera, S. (2002). ‘Indispensable que partidos políticos incluyan candidaturas igualitarias entre hombres y mujeres’ [Indispensable that political parties include a balanced list of male and female candidates]
- Maya, R. (2002a). ‘Se retracta el PAN de demanda de inconstitucionalidad’ (The PAN retracts its inconstitutionality demands). Cimacnoticias.com. January 15. https://cimacnoticias.com.mx/noticia/se-retracta-el-pan-de-demanda-de-inconstitucionalidad/
- Peschard, J. (2002). ‘El sistema de cuotas en América Latina. Panorama general,’ in International IDEA. Mujeres en el Parlamento. Más allá de los números, Stockholm: International IDEA, pp. 173-186.
- Jimenez Polanco, J. (2001). ‘La représentation politique des femmes en Amérique Latine: une analyse comparée’ (Women's political representation in Latin America: a comparative analysis). Bérengère Marques-Pereira and Patricio Nolasco (ed.) La représentation politique des femmes en Amérique Latine(Women's political representation in Latin America). Brussels: L'Harmattan. pp. 27-81.
- Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas. 2001. Women and Power in the Americas: A Report Card. Washington: Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas.
- Stevenson, L. S. (1999). ‘Gender Politics in the Mexican Democratization Process.’ In Towards Mexico's Democratization, ed.Jorge Dominguez and Alejandro Poire. New York: Routledge.
- Htun, M. N. (1998). Women's Political Participation, Representation and Leadership in Latin America. Issue Brief, Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas.
- Kapur, V. (1998). ‘Women's Contribution to the Democratization of Mexican Politics: An Exploration of Their Formal Participation in the National Action Party and the Party of the Democratic Revolutioni.’ Mexican Studies 14, no. 2. pp. 363-388.
- Inter-Parliamentary Union [IPU]. (1997b). Towards Partnership Between Men and Women in Politics. Geneva: Inter-Parliamentary Union.
- Fernández Poncela, A. M., (1995). Participación política: Las mujeres en México al final del milenio(Political participation: Women in Mexico at the end of the millennium). Mexico City: El Colegio de México.
- Mexican Parliament website, http://www.diputados.gob.mx/
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