Good practice

Chile's Gender Parity Law 21.216 — World's First Gender-Balanced Constitutional Body (2021)

Chile · Santiago · See the Chile profile

Law 21.216 (2020) mandated parity electoral lists and a results-correction mechanism for Chile's Constitutional Convention, producing the world's first gender-balanced constitutional body: 77 women, 78 men (49.7%). UNDP documented parity's measurable impact on substantive policy

49.7% (77 of 155)

Women in the Constitutional Convention (2021)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Servicio Nacional de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género (SernamEG)
Period: 2020-present
Keywords: gender parity, political representation, electoral law, constitutional reform, women in politics

Context

Chile's Law 21.216 (2020) mandated gender-parity electoral lists and a results-correction mechanism for the Constitutional Convention.

Results

The rule produced the world's first gender-balanced constitutional body — 77 women and 78 men (49.7%) — with UNDP documenting parity's measurable impact on substantive policy.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Servicio Nacional de la Mujer y la Equidad de Género (SernamEG) — accessed 2026-06-21
BCN Chile: Historia Ley 21.216 Paridad de Género — accessed 2026-06-21
UNDP Chile: La paridad si importa — analisis de PNUD y Plataforma Telar — accessed 2026-06-21
CIPER Chile: Mecanismos de paridad redujeron la brecha a 2,9% — accessed 2026-06-21

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 4% in this catalogue (719 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

Bolivia, Mexico and Costa Rica enacted similar dual-mechanism parity laws; UNDP and IPU formally cite Chile's entry-exit model as an international reference for electoral parity design.

Impact on gender equality1/1

World's first gender-parity constitutional drafting body achieved; UNDP found parity measurably shifted substantive votes on environment and indigenous rights in the Convention.

Effectiveness1/1

Achieved 77 women / 78 men (49.7%) against the 50% parity target; correction mechanisms applied 15 times to close residual gaps.

Efficiency1/1

Legislative amendment requiring no additional expenditure beyond standard electoral administration; high representational yield at negligible incremental cost.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

UNDP Chile and Plataforma Telar quantitative analysis of 923 convention votes; CIPER Chile independent investigative documentation of parity mechanisms and outcomes.

Sustainability1/1

Parity principle extended to second constitutional process via Law 21.533 (2022); informs ongoing electoral reform legislation to mainstream parity in regular elections.

Achievement / evidence1/1

First gender-parity constitution-drafting body in history (49.7% women, 155 members); documented by IPU, UNDP Chile, BCN Chile (official legislative library), and CIPER Chile.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Parity mandated by constitutional amendment and enforced through enforceable electoral correction mechanisms, not aspirational targets or voluntary quotas.

Curator validation1/1

BCN Chile (official legislative library), UNDP Chile, and CIPER Chile (independent investigative journalism) provide multi-source authoritative documentation on different domains.

Cite this

Evidoria. Chile's Gender Parity Law 21.216 — World's First Gender-Balanced Constitutional Body (2021). Persistent ID: 7eefe73b-39a6-4cce-854b-e8e97128faa3.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

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