It focuses on womens participation within conservative political parties in
Portugal and Spain. It deals with the factors that may explain their increased
participation since the 1990s, as well as the consequences thereof. Although womens
political representation in both countries has increased, the differences between the
Partido Popular Democrático-Partido Social-Democrata (PPD-PSD) and the Alianza
Popular-Partido Popular (AP-PP) are still considerable. This study points out the
factors that may have influenced the greater participation of women within the AP-
-PP, in comparison with the PPD-PSD, making use of interviews with leaders, both
women and men, from those parties.
