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Transitioning from Descriptive to Substantive Representation: a Study of the Mexican Congress

2020 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

The increasing number of women in the Mexican Congress could lead us to expect that women's interests are being better represented. However, there is no sufficient recent evidence on a correlation between a more robust descriptive representation and women's substantive representation in Mexico. Has the increase in the number of women led to greater focus on women's issues? Are the contents of bills sponsored in fact representing women? The objective of this paper is to address the links between women's increasing descriptive representation and the substantive representation of this group. To this end, a sample of legislative bills of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, authored between 2015 and 2019, are assessed. Evidence points towards a change in the legislative work, embracing women's issues, as more women are elected. Issues raised include those related to gender violence, including various forms of classification of crimes. They also highlight the reforms that push parity in the composition of various governing bodies, including the Supreme Court of Justice. Legislation is pushing to close the gender pay gap, and to mandate government institutions to include a gender perspective in all of their processes. But even if the substantive representation of some types of women has improved, major breakthroughs through legislation are seldom achieved due to conservative conceptualizations of women's roles. © 2020 Institute of Political Studies. All rights reserved.

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Public Opinion Surveys and USA Foreign Policy Towards Latin America in the Second World War

2019 , Ortiz Garza, José Luis , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

In this paper, the roles of public opinion polls and agency in foreign policymaking are examined. Based on documents uncovered from the National Archives and Rockefeller Archive Center, this paper presents a more comprehensive picture of the history of public opinion surveys and the shaping of US bureaucracy in their relation to foreign affairs. Further, the paper contends that policymakers are interested in public views pertaining to foreign policy issues, but that private interests (serving their own interpretations of national interest) shape public views, using new techniques as guiding tools.

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Gender stereotypes and patronage practices in women’s careers: A study of the Mexican executive branch

2016-12-20 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

Feminist institutionalism seeks to include women as actors and to understand the interplay between gender and the functioning of political institutions. Elite theory looks to understand social interaction that an establishment can effectively dictate by virtue of their control over the resources and organisations. Framed theoretically by these conjoint ideas, this paper studies how gender stereotypes affect women’s political careers. The aim is to understand how informal institutions in combination with social gendered stereotypes produce and reproduce patriarchal political systems, including gendered elite power relations. The study of elites has reinforced the idea of the existence of a ruling class composed of a ruling elite and sub-elites. In this arrangement, where dominant groups are characterised by the accumulation of power in the sense of having the ability and resources needed to control decisions, rules and behaviours are producing and reproducing the necessary conditions for elites to work, organise and exist. Thus, institutions are structuring political life. Among these informal institutions, different practices have been set to advance a political career. Patronage as the support and privilege an organisation or individual bestows to another, has work within the Mexican political system as a key element responsible for social order. Working in parallel, gendered stereotypes continue influencing expectations about behaviours. Through semi-structured interviews, conducted between September 2013 and August 2015, this paper sustains that one of the major constraints to the advancement of women’s political careers in the Mexican executive branch lies in the elite’s employment of a patronage system that is based on social arrangements distorted by gender stereotypes. The objective is to understand the mechanisms affecting the advancement of women’s political careers within the Mexican executive branch. © 2016, © 2016 The Author(s).

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Presidential Elections in Mexico: Media Coverage of the Josefina Vazquez Mota Campaign

2020-07-07 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

In 2012, the incumbent party nominated the first woman with a real chance of being elected president in Mexico. This was an historic moment, later described as a “haughtily hen” looking for a chance to win. The present study analyzed whether media coverage—by paying more attention to the candidate’s family and appearance, rather than policy issues—created opportunities for sexism and gendered stereotyping. The findings of this analysis were mixed. Male candidates received more media coverage, as the number of stories and headlines that covered them was higher. In contrast, coverage of the female candidate focused on stories about her polling position, highlighting her struggle to reach second place and the low probability of being elected. Nevertheless, coverage of personal traits was minimal. Moreover, only the female candidate (in her appeal to the electorate) made specific references to her sex. © 2020, © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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La fortaleza de las candidaturas independientes y sus oportunidades de competencia frente a los partidos políticos en México

2019 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

El objetivo de este trabajo es ofrecer elementos teóricos y empíricos que permitan contribuir al debate sobre las candidaturas independientes. El argumento central es que, si bien estas candidaturas podrían ser necesarias en el marco de democratización del país, el diseño del sistema electoral continúa favoreciendo a los partidos políticos. A partir de la evaluación de los resultados del proceso electoral 2014-2015, se señala que las normativas no compensan las desventajas institucionales de las candidaturas independientes respecto de los partidos políticos. Se examinan las normativas que regulan el acceso a la boleta electoral y a fondos públicos. El estudio se basa en datos agregados, incluyendo candidaturas y datos finales de diputaciones federales y locales, gubernaturas y presidencias municipales. Se siguió un método descriptivo con recolección de datos a través de fuentes oficiales y archivos electorales ©2019 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

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Media coverage of campaigns : a multilevel study of mexican women running for office

2020 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

Previous studies on the United States and Latin America have demonstrated unequal media coverage of men and women during electoral campaigns. However, in Mexico, a country where women increasingly participate in politics, this has seldom been studied. This is worrisome when considering that, with gender stereotyping, the media can create new barriers for female candidates, affecting voters’ perceptions of women’s expertise and policy proposals. Through a comparative analysis, this research explores the role of the media when covering women running for office. It specifically studies coverage of executive-branch campaigns at the three levels of government. This is an important contribution to the literature as there are few studies of the Mexican context; specifically, this research examines the visibility, focus, traits, and issues covered in written media in order to explore, as well expand knowledge of, media biases and Mexican politics. Findings suggest that women running for positions with more power received different appraisal in printed media. Furthermore, male candidates received more coverage with the number of stories and headlines explicitly covering them higher than female candidates. This was most evident in municipal elections. At the same time, coverage of both female and male candidates shied away from personal traits or family matters. The media’s attention was on ‘male’ issues, where women were less competitive than men. Albeit with marginal differences, coverage of municipal elections was positive for women (where they won), compared with that of the across-the-board losses for female candidates running for governor. © 2020 Communication & Society.

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Media coverage of women in politics: Mexican local politicians on campaign

2020-03-12 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

Press coverage of women was expected to increase with their greater political representation in Mexico. What characterises the coverage that print media has given to men and women running for office? Are there any differences in the coverage men and women received? Is the quality of this coverage better than the quantity? The media coverage of candidates running in Mexican local elections is analysed in this exploratory study in order to answer these questions. Attention is first given to visibility, as in the quantity of coverage received. Second, the type of coverage of men compared to women is studied. Third, the paper looks into the ways in which printed media covers stories about women and the issues highlighted in the stories. The findings were mixed. In general, female and male candidates are equally visible. Newspaper coverage does not vary in tone, however, male candidates focus only on ‘female’ issues when more women stand for election. © 2020, © 2020 Journal of International Communication.

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Are media covering while women are campaigning? A study of Mexican municipal elections

2022 , Vidal Correa, Fernanda

Studies on media coverage have found that female nominees receive unequal treatment regarding their visibility and portrayal of their agendas. To assess how media cover women, municipal elections in Mexico are analysed. By focusing on municipal elections, this research advocate for the study of local phenomena and their discourses. The study questions whether women have received equal media exposure compared to men. The research analyses how women are portrayed and explores how print news media present stories about women and the narratives included in their stories. Findings suggest that female and male candidates are equally visible, but men are singled out more often as likely winners. News reports focus mostly on ‘male’ issues, but coverage does not focus disproportionally on female candidates’ personality traits. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.