On the 15th anniversary of an action plan by the UN Commission on the Status of Women, new figures show that Latin American countries rank above most of the rest of the world in percentage of women in government.
Latin America and Europe are the only two regions in a recent report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union to surpass the world average for percentage of women in government. The report shows Cuba in fourth place with 43.2 percent, Argentina in eleventh with 38.5 percent, and Costa Rica at 13 with 36.8 percent. Other milestones include the fact that women lead both houses of Uruguay’s General Assembly, and Costa Rica has elected its first female president.
Between the 1990s and 2007, the report shows that women holding positions in Latin American government cabinets almost tripled to 24 percent. Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Uruguay actually exceeded this mark with rates of female cabinet members of over 30 percent. Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Peru also saw the biggest growth of female representation in the lower houses of Latin American congresses during roughly the same period.
Five women have served as presidents of Latin American countries; Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of Nicaragua, Mireya Elisa Moscoso of Panama, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica.
The notion is widespread throughout the U.S. that Latin America is the home of rampant machismo and that women are universally treated as second-class citizens. However, as the figures in this new study show, in many parts of Latin America women have made more progress, at least in the political realm, than have women in the U.S. or Canada over the same time period.
In fact, says Glynna Prentice, Mexico editor for InternationalLiving.com, single women have been exploring and moving to Latin America for years in defiance of North American machismo stereotypes.
“I’m a prime example,” said Prentice. “I moved to Campeche, Mexico, nearly four years ago, and I love it. I know women throughout Latin America, including Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Uruguay, and Argentina, who are living wonderful lives and feeling freer and fulfilled than they may have back in the States.”
Prentice presented a workshop on ‘Singles Abroad’ at InternationalLiving.com’s recent Ultimate Event V Conference in Quito, Ecuador. The event drew a record crowd and international media attention.
