Ungrateful citizens? Women’s rights policies in Zapatero’s Spain

Abstract

Women attracted the lion’s share of government initiatives in the area of citizenship rights during the government of Zapatero (2004-08) in Spain. Highlights of these efforts were policies on gender violence and gender equality. We analyze these policies in terms of their scope, people’s awareness, implementation and the level of support from other parties in the opposition. We then look for the possible impact of these policies on the gender gap in political interest and on voting orientations. We find only a slight impact on women’s voting patterns from IU to PSOE.