Since transitioning to democracy in the 1970s and 1980s, Latin American countries have experienced a rise in the presence of women in the formal political process. This phenomenon has been uneven throughout the region and throughout different political institutions. As more women have entered the political arena, the literature on women’s representation in Latin America has expanded considerably. Works range from in-depth case studies to cross-national analyses, vary widely in terms of methodological approaches, and have contributed to the theoretical and empirical development of a dynamic literature on women’s representation in comparative perspective.
Leslie Schwindt-Bayer’s edited book serves three important purposes. First, it directly connects the literature on women’s representation with the literature on democracy, political parties, and political institutions. Second, it provides a detailed account of the state of literature on women’s representation in the region, focusing on specific themes, as well as providing case studies of seven Latin American countries. Third, with a number of chapters bringing new data and new empirical analyses, this book provides fresh perspectives on research questions surrounding the women’s representation literature in Latin America.
While each chapter provides its own nuanced approach to understanding representation, they all (implicitly or explicitly) contend that “gender inequality in political representation in Latin America is rooted in institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises facing Latin American countries” (2). By connecting the growing literature on women’s representation with more recent representational issues experienced in Latin America, the authors provide analyses that contribute not only to the gender and politics literature but also to the literature on democratic representation.
Using arenas of representation to highlight the importance of institutions and politics in the regional context (8), part 1 provides a general overview of how women’s presence in formal politics varies across the region. Chapters 2 (Catherine Reyes-Housholder and Gwynn Thomas) and 3 (Michelle Taylor-Robinson and Meredith Gleitz) center on women in the national executive. Latin American presidencies have been extensively researched, but a limited number of such works focus on how gender dynamics influence the election and nomination of executive leaders or their influence on policy priorities. This is problematic, since, as the authors of chapter 2 claim, “Men’s historical dominance of presidential power shaped societal expectations surrounding presidential leadership as well as the institution of presidency itself” (21). No woman was democratically elected to the position in the region before 1990, and since then, women have been elected a total of nine times in the region (20). While encouraging, these numbers show how the presidency is one of the most male-dominated spaces in Latin American politics.
The underrepresentation of women as presidents is replicated in cabinet positions. Because of the importance of the president and cabinets in making and implementing policies in Latin America, the limited presence of women in these institutions has direct implications for the study of democracy and representation. In chapter 3, the authors provide updated data and new empirical analysis on the factors explaining women’s representation in cabinets in the region, showing that the factors influencing women’s nomination to cabinet positions have changed over time. One key finding is the importance of nominating women to cabinet positions today compared to previous decades. “Latin American presidents, both male and female, know that they must include several women in their cabinets regardless of political context” (48).
Providing a comprehensive review of the literature and bringing new empirical analysis, chapter 4 (Schiwndt-Bayer and Santiago Alles) highlights the institutional dynamics that influence the election of women to national legislatures in the region and the consequence of this growing presence. While societal changes account for some of the reasons we now see more women in legislative positions, the authors emphasize the importance of gender quotas for ushering in a new era of women’s representation in the region. According to the authors’ analysis, gender quotas “outperform cultural, socioeconomic, and other formal institutional factors in Latin America” (64). However, the effect of gender quotas is diminished in countries that are seeing increased party fragmentation.
Chapter 4 also explores elite and public attitudes and their relationship to women’s representation. First, the authors use original empirical analysis to explore Latin American legislators’ attitudes toward key policy issues affecting the region’s democracies in order to determine if there is a difference in attitudes of male and female legislators. Some highlights include significant difference in the politicians’ attitudes toward gender inequality (women are more likely to see it as an issue of great importance), and some difference in attitudes toward economic crises as a threat to democracy (women view them as a bigger threat) (64–69).
Then the authors use data from the AmericasBarometer to examine the impact of women’s presence in legislatures on public attitudes toward women. The authors contend that “research does suggest that the presence of women in national legislatures correlates with more support for political gender equality, greater political engagement and participation, and more positive feelings toward democracy in the region” (71). These are interesting findings with implications far beyond the gender and politics literature. More research on the relationship between women’s representation and political attitudes (elite and public) toward democratic institutions is needed.
In chapter 5 (Jana Morgan and Magda Hinojosa), aptly titled “Seen but Not Heard,” the authors share the positive and negative aspects of women’s representation in political parties in the region. While political parties are increasingly accessible to women, few parties prioritize women’s concerns as part of party platforms or through organizational ties with women’s groups (75). Women continue to increase their presence as rank-and-file party members, but they still lag behind men as members of party leadership. This absence from the upper echelons of party leadership may be one of the reasons that political parties do not put emphasis on women-related issues. Nevertheless, as the authors point out, more research focusing on the internal workings of parties across the region is needed to better understand these dynamics.
The last arena of representation discussed in the book is women’s representation in subnational governments. In chapter 6 (María Escobar-Lemmon and Kendall Funk), the greatest contribution is what the authors propose as the “first cross-national and time series analysis of the determinants of women’s representation in local legislatures and executive offices across Latin America” (100). They find that many of the factors influencing women’s representation at the national level (such as gender quotas, the role of parties, and political mobilization of women) are also determinants at the local level, but other factors, like federalism, fiscal decentralization, and women’s experience in local elections, affect the representation of women in subnational government (113).
The country studies featured in part 2 of the book provide for a more nuanced understanding of the main findings discussed in part 1. Chapter 7 (Tiffany Barnes and Mark Jones) outlines some of the issues seen in Argentina (limited presence of women in party leadership, the role of electoral laws), while also providing original research showing an increase in the public’s trust in local government as more women are elected to local legislatures (135). Chapter 8 (Susan Franceschet) emphasizes the role of informal rules in Chilean politics, influencing the election of women as well as women-related policymaking. Chapter 9 (Jennifer Piscopo) outlines the case of Costa Rica, where political stability created a favorable environment for women’s representation (158) but informal rules still favor men as the safer candidates (173).
Chapter 10 (Niki Johnson) shows how Uruguay’s well-established political system (especially the formal and informal rules dictating party behavior) may act as an obstacle to women’s representation. Chapter 11 (Pär Zetterberg) details Mexico’s continuous increase in women in elected positions, including the importance of women from all the major political parties “working strategically together in informal alliances to push reluctant male-dominated party leaderships to advance the issue of women’s underrepresentation” (201).
Chapter 12 (Clara Araœjo, Anna Calasanti, and Mala Htun) explores the case of Brazil’s underrepresentation of women in elected politics, focusing on the role electoral rules play in that situation. The brief discussion (217–19) on the presidency of Dilma Rousseff and its impact on women-related policymaking provides some insight into the dynamics of policymaking when a woman is the chief executive in the country. Chapter 13 (Mónica Pachón and Santiago Lacouture) shows that “there has been great path dependence in the historically low numbers of women in political office” in Colombia (229). This analysis outlines how different electoral reforms attempted to incentivize the recruitment and election of women, but “the highly personalized environment of political representation in Colombia is an adverse context in which it is difficult for women to compete and win” (240).
The theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions found in this volume make this a must-read for those interested in gender and institutions, including advanced undergraduate and graduate students, scholars, and practitioners. Nevertheless, the contributions of this edited volume go beyond the important contribution to the gender, institutions, and politics in Latin America literature. The authors make a strong case for the integration of studies focusing on women’s representation into the broader literature on Latin American democracy and on institutions.
