Paridad de género y representación. El caso mexicanoGender parity and representation. The Mexican case

Abstract

Abstract This article will critically reflect on the jurisprudence of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice regarding the constitutional principle of gender parity. To do so, it will rely on a theoretical reconstruction of three different foundations of the principle, based on the understanding of the political representation of women and the principle of equality. I will call these positions: “of formal equality,” “of the defense of quotas,” and “of parity,” highlighting how the arguments of the last two positions are mixed in the Mexican judgments in a disorderly and incoherent way. Finally, the article will promote an interpretation of the principle of gender parity as dynamic and therefore open to progressive contributions from the feminist political subject, avoiding both the risks of essentialism and reinforcing the binary system of sexes. This principle requires, at this historical moment, corrective, provisional, and strategic affirmative action measures to achieve substantive gender equality in political representation.