Spillover effects of quota or parity laws: The case of Ecuador women mayors

This article considers whether quota or parity laws designed to improve the representation of women in plurinominal elections have a spillover effect to uninominal elections. It tests empirically the effects of quota and parity legislations implemented in Ecuador for plurinominal elections on the proportion of women elected as mayors. Based on an unpublished database, our results show that, after the implementation of such legislation, the probability of a woman being elected as mayor almost doubles (ceteris paribus). We also find evidence that a possible causal chain effect of the documented spillover effects is the increasing importance of female role models, motivated by institutional changes shaped by the new legislation.