Peru has been boosting the political participation of women since it passed its gender quota law in 1997, establishing that 30 percent of the spots on candidate lists must be reserved for women. This was complemented a decade later with the 2007 Equal Opportunities Act.

But "there's still no law that stipulates male-female alternation on candidate lists for parliament and municipal and regional governments, which would prevent women from being relegated to the last positions," Anel Townsend, former Women and Social Development Minister, said to IPS. Townsend was the most-voted female candidate elected to congress in 2001, and in her parliamentary activity she has promoted several gender-related initiatives.

Party leadership positions in Peru are still predominantly occupied by men, who are very reluctant to relinquish any of their power, so they place women far down on the slates of candidate where they have little chance of being elected, she added.