Women's Electoral Participation in Cuenca's Politics

The research problem lies in the relegation of women to the background in the political arena, therefore, the present work deals with the electoral participation of women in politics in the canton of Cuenca, from the perception of former candidates to the dignities of popular election in the Sectional Elections 2019; the process of data collection was carried out during the period September 2019 to February 2020. This study has been approached from a qualitative approach with descriptive scope, for this we worked with former candidates, three men and three women, members of different political movements that were participants in the electoral period. The instrument used to collect information was a semi-structured interview validated by a pilot test. Despite the fact that the year 2021 is ongoing, the participants perceive that not only gender is influential in the electoral sphere, but also other factors such as age, religion or the charisma of the candidates. While for some, women need equal opportunities to access politics, for others, women need better conditions.