This paper analyses women representation under the limited vote in the last three Spanish Senate elections. Under the limited vote, electors are allowed to vote for candidates of more than one party and are also permitted to choose among a party´s candidates. However, a lower proportion of women are simultaneously elected to the Senate than to the Spanish Lower House, which use closed party lists. Our analysis shows that women underrepresentation in the Spanish Senate is mainly caused by party nomination strategies rather by preferential voting: most Spaniards vote for all the candidates of the same political party. When they choose among a party´s candidate, they largely benefit with their vote candidates listed higher on party columns. Although the ballot paper for the Senate groups candidates by party in alphabetical order, women candidates are more frequently placed in lower position than their male colleagues.
