Pushing for Gender Mainstreaming: Women’s Presence and Alliances at the Local Level in Spain

Abstract A most important debate in gender representation studies revolves around whether women’s presence in politics correlates with the advancement of gender-equal policies, given the mixed results observed. In this article, the authors aim to contribute both theoretically and empirically to this debate by investigating whether distinct types of women’s presence/alliances have any differential impact on the promotion of gender mainstreaming at the Spanish local level. Our study shows a descriptive representation loop wherein the presence of women seems to attract more women into political positions. Importantly, the presence of women in local politics and the potential for them to form alliances between themselves has the ability to promote gender mainstreaming at the local level, albeit not all types of presence are equally effective. Our findings offer significant insights for reevaluating the connection between women’s political involvement and gender equality.