Historical - legal study of the political participation of wom-en in Central America at the level of local governments with emphasis in the election of mayors

Abstract

The article briefly and precisely describes the background of the vote for women in the Central American region, how it was obtained recognition of that fundamental right, what were the historical causes that led to its obtaining, the first women to actively participate in the policy of each of their countries and the regulatory bodies where the different modalities of voting for women were established. A comparative investigation is proposed, in which the similarities, differences and high and low indices regarding the participation of women in local powers in each of the countries of Central America are reflected. The topics to be compared are the historical evolution of women’s social and political participation, starting at the point where they play an important role in making changes in favor of their partici-pation rights; attaining from these fights the recognition of the feminine suffrage, spending later, to the historical moment in that they began to exert public charges. Likewise, the current incidence and performance in several institutions of their respective political and regional systems will be described, to reflect on the scope they have managed to establish as part of society. The legal reforms implemented to guarantee these changes in the electoral sys-tem are explained. In addition, data are presented with a temporary delimitation from 1994 to 2018, for positions of local power - which are presented to compara-tively assess the level of participation of women before and after the Political Parties Law entered into force, and how that has impacted on the level of participation of women in politics, particularly the case of El Salvador.