¿Quién toma la palabra? Género, partidos y ausencias en el debate sobre el modelo territorial

Equal descriptive representation alone does not guarantee that women parliamentarians can serve as role models if their participation is not made visible. Speaking in parliament continues to depend on partisan elites, especially in contexts where the logic of collective representation predominates. Although the gender gap has narrowed in quantitative terms, women’s participation in parliamentary debates continues to reflect the gendered nature of these institutions. This research addresses the participation of women parliamentarians in highly politically relevant debates, such as reforms to the territorial distribution of power in Spain between 1989 and 2023. To this end, a content analysis was conducted of 48 parlia-mentary debates and 434 interventions recorded in the Official Journal, coded according to the speaker’s sex, parliamentary group, role played, and constituency. Furthermore, institu-tional variables such as membership in the Constitutional Commission, spokesperson posi-tions, and appointment by regional parliaments were considered. The results show that, despite the increase in the number of female parliamentarians, only 17.7% of interventions were made by women. Parliaments continue to function as gendered institutions, where, beyond temporary advances, the internal dynamics of parliamentary groups continue to reproduce gender inequalities in access to the floor.Keywords: Parliaments; Statutes of autonomy; gender; parliamentary speeches; federalism; descriptive representation; equality; political parties.