¿Casualidad o Causalidad? América Latina y sus mujeres presidentes. Cinco casos específicos.

Abstract

The following study, conducted to fulfill the requirements for a B.A. degree in Spanish from the University of Iceland, titled “Coincidence or Causality? Women Presidents of Latin America: Five Specific Cases”, [sp. ¿Casualidad o Causalidad? América Latina y sus mujeres presidentes. Cinco casos específicos], investigates the political participation of Latin American women during the twentieth century and, in particular, five cases where women managed to occupy the presidential chair of their countries, namely in Nicaragua, Panamá, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica.The first chapter offers a brief historical summary about the multiple feminist movements set in the early twentieth century, and discusses how these initial attempts influenced the emergence of women into politics. It offers a review of what was needed to first qualify to their right of suffrage, and later to be voted for, on one hand within the political movements and parties and on the other in national election. Furthermore, the study introduces the so-called gender quota laws, which were first established in 1991, with Argentina being the first country to put them into effect. The study offers a brief overview of their implementation and discusses the importance of these new measures to improve gender equity.The central part of the study offers a review of the five identified cases, offering a brief presentation of the candidates in question, identifying common denominators and evaluating coincidences and causalities relevant for their elections to the presidency of their respective nation states. Through this analysis the study seeks to raise awareness about the importance of the emergence of women in the highest echelons of Latin American societies, by contributing exemplified biographies of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in Nicaragua, Mireya Moscoso in Panama, Michelle Bachelet in Chile, Cristina Fernández in Argentina and Laura Chinchilla in Costa Rica.