Women in Latin American Elections
Historically, Latin America countries have followed a traditional society, where women accept more conservative ideals and vote that way in elections more than men have. There has been a movement toward modern societies in this region of the world, meaning a shift in women voters to more left-leaning political parties, candidates, and ideologies. More recently, there has been an uptick in females in leadership role, like President, in Latin America. I believe that this shift from traditional to modern societies occurs form females having more independence, the author calls it “autonomy” from their male counterpart. They are able to have a well-paying job, become involved politically, and their main purpose in life doesn’t have to be marriage and motherhood. This freedom allows for independent thinking away from that of your husbands so you are able to form your own opinions. Female voters are more likely to vote for a female candidate not only because it would mean better representation, but also because female leaders would care more about female rights and policies than would a male counterpart.
Could the same research apply to the United States and other western countries? Economic development for women occurred much earlier in these regions of the world than it did in Latin America. The United States made the transformation from traditional to modern society at some point in the 1960s. Women had the ability to have a role in the family other than motherhood and the amount of women getting higher education increased exponentially. Because of this, women in political positions increased and more women shifted to voted more left. I predict that the movement towards women’s increased voting numbers and voting for left-leaning candidates to continue as women have more access to technology. They will have more access to literature, articles, and other academic sources to enhance their education and, in turn, political involvement.
I think that Latin American countries have made great progress towards equality for women, specifically in terms of political participation. but they still have a lot do. Simply transitioning from traditional to modern could make a huge impact also. I agree that the key aspect in this shift is that women have more independence and that has led to higher political participation.
It is true that modernized culture where the women can be autonomous of their male counterparts, makes a big impact in the way that females participate in politics in the region. The fact that Chile, Argentina, and Brazil have had female presidents shows not only a transition in the women’s role in politics, but a wide spread acceptance and support of such transition by society.
Your article points out some of Latin America’s most notable triumphs in women’s rights and political participation, but I have to object in the general picture. Domestic violence and gender violence statistics in Latin America are not only alarming, but are well-rooted inside the traditional society. In most places of Latin America, there is an existing presence of Chauvinism and Catholic culture, in which women are seen as inferior, and apt only for house-domestic jobs.
It gets more difficult for women in poorer districts of Latin America to gain independence, when fertility rates grow and infant mortality drops. There are more single-mothers in need of jobs, and less female enrollment.
While I think your post makes a strong argument and it is very well written I have to disagree with you on specific things. The fact that there is a women candidate, does not always seem to appeal to woman voters. In fact the opposite can be seen in the 2012 elections in Mexico when Enrique Pena Nieto was up against Josefina Vazquez Mota (woman). In fact most women when asked who they would vote for, they would choose EPN due to his “good looks and charm”.
Women often get overlooked and when they dont they tend to be more disastrous for a country (Dilma and Kirchner in Brazil and Argentina respectively). Women in LatAm are still treated badly and the inequality between men and women is high.
Why do you think Latin American women are lagging a bit by just recently getting this autonomy from their husbands? I agree that having a life and interests separate from your family is an important influential factor on voting patterns, especially for women in Latin America. It would be very interesting to apply the research to areas other that Latin America.