Press release in Spanish (PDF)
In 2009, seven Latin American countries will hold presidential elections and nine will elect new legislators. And while there is no longer any question about whether Latin America has achieved electoral democracy, holding free and fair elections, does that apply equally to men and women?
Electorally speaking, 2008 was a relatively calm year. Only the Dominican Republic and Paraguay held presidential elections, while Paraguayans also elected parliamentary representatives. But these elections resulted in little overall change in women’s political representation.
- The average proportion of female government ministers is 24 percent, although they now head ministries of defense, internal security and foreign relations, which were historically male bastions.
- The average proportion of women in Congress (lower house or unicameral) is 21 percent.
The figures demonstrate that progress for women remains unequal and limited to certain countries. Even in those countries, progress is limited to certain positions as the following table shows:
| Women ministers | Women deputies/
Congress members | Women mayors |
| Argentina | 31% | 40% | 9% |
| Bolivia | 20% | 17% | 5% |
| Brazil | 6% | 9% | 8% |
| Chile | 41% | 15% | 13% |
| Colombia | 23% | 8% | 9% |
| Costa Rica | 38% | 37% | 10% |
| Cuba | n/d | 43% | n/a |
| Dominican Republic | 11% | 20% | 11% |
| Ecuador | 38% | 26% | 6% |
| El Salvador | 15% | 19% | 11% |
| Guatemala | 8% | 12% | 2% |
| Honduras | 31% | 23% | 8% |
| Mexico | 16% | 23% | 3% |
| Nicaragua* | 29% | 19% | n/d |
| Panama | 14% | 17% | 9% |
| Paraguay | 10% | 13% | 6% |
| Peru | 36% | 29% | 3% |
| Uruguay | 31% | 12% | n/a |
| Venezuela | 30% | 19% | 22% |
| Average | 24% | 21% | n/d |
There are also significant differences among countries in the region. In Argentina, one of every three members of Congress is female, contrasting with Brazil, where the figure is one in 12. Women are also conspicuous by their absence at the local level. In most of the region’s countries (11), no more than 10 percent of mayors are women.
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