Parity democracy and the impact of gender on public policies: analysis of the case of the Basque Autonomous Community

The model of representative democracy provided by the 1978 Constitution suffers from a certain deficit in the sense that it prevents women from achieving the necessary participation in conditions of equality in political decision-making centres. In order to rectify the under-representation of women, Law 4/2005, of 18 February, for the Equality of Women and Men incorporates the need to respect parity. The work analyses the effects that the parity mandate has on the Basque Autonomous Community. The aim is to determine whether the greater presence of women in Parliament and in the autonomous government has been reflected in public policies capable of transforming this society into a more egalitarian one. In order to determine whether the presence of women in political decision-making positions goes beyond mere formal participation, attention has been drawn to the following two indicators: evaluation of the gender impact of autonomous public policies; and, parliamentary and governmental initiatives promoted in the area of equality.