Relación entre el nivel de desarrollo cantonal y el porcentaje de votos a favor de candidatas mujeres en las elecciones seccionales de concejalías urbanas del 2009 y 2014

Abstract

This article analyzes the underrepresentation of women in positions of political choice in the dignities of urban councilors. In Ecuador, the successive reforms to the electoral system have granted women a more equitable participation in the electoral processes, however, men still have a greater participation in the assigned seats, as evidenced by the sectional elections of urban councilors of 2009 and 2014. Consequently, from the above, this research aims to study the incidence between the level of cantonal development and electoral preference towards candidates in the sectional elections of urban councilors between 2009 and 2014. The theory provided possible explanations for This phenomenon, so that, through a data regression panel model, it was evaluated whether the variables associated with the level of cantonal development, the control variables, such as gender equity and electoral behavior, have an impact in the portion of votes women receive. To determine a synthetic socioeconomic index that measured the level of cantonal development, its construction was evaluated under two techniques: analysis of main components and sufficient reduction of dimensions. On the other hand, it was evaluated through a simulation if the methods for granting seats, D’Hondt and Webster generate different results in the allocation of seats to women. Finally, it was evidenced that a higher level of cantonal development is associated with a greater number of votes towards the candidates.