Central & South America
We have not employed the term ‘Latin America’ for this region because it privileges European settlers, many of whom were from Spain and Portugal. As elsewhere in the Americas, the place of Indigenous women is critical to understanding the extent of equality in politics as in much else. Nationalism and anti-colonial politics have been influential in shaping attitudes to women’s rights and in mobilizing activists but so too has the power of forces such as the Catholic Church. Women were key players in the Cuban and other revolutions and Catholic nuns became some of the most outspoken proponents of liberation theology. Today some leaders in the region have named themselves feminists, such as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Chile’s Michele Bachelet (now Executive Director of UN Women). The latter named an equal number of women and men to her cabinet in 2006. Women of European descent remain most visible in public office but male violence and entitlement persist as an obstacle for them as well. In 2002, it was estimated that women’s “participation in political power” in this region put it “behind Europe, on par with Asia, and ahead of Africa, the Pacific and the Middle East” (Htun 10). The UN Commission on the Status of Women more recently reported, however, that only Europe and this region surpass the world average for women in government. In 2011, the United Nations opened the new UN Women Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama City.
Central & South America Suffrage Timeline
Right to Vote |
Right to Stand for Election |
|
|---|---|---|
Argentina |
September 29th, 1947 | September 29th, 1947 |
Belize |
March 25th, 1954 | March 25th, 1954 |
Bolivia |
1938*/ July 21, 1952 |
July 21, 1952 |
Bolivia Notes |
*Right to vote extended to “literate women and those with a certain level of income” (p. 41). | |
Brazil |
July 16th, 1934 | July 16th, 1934 |
Chile |
May 30th, 1931*/ May 15th, 1949** |
May 30th, 1931*/ May 15th, 1949** |
Chile Notes |
*Right to vote/stand for election in “municipal elections” (p. 77). | **Right to vote/stand for election in “legislative and provincial elections” (p. 77). |
Colombia |
August 25th, 1954 | August 25th, 1954 |
Costa Rica |
November 17th, 1949 | November 17th, 1949 |
Dominican Republic |
1942 | 1942 |
Ecuador* |
March 3rd, 1929** | March 3rd, 1929 |
Ecuador Notes |
*First country in South American to grant woman suffrage. | **”Between 1929 and 1967, voting was compulsory for men and optional for women; in 1967 it became compulsory for bothe sexes” (p. 115). |
El Salvador |
1939 | 1961 |
Guatemala |
1946 | 1946 |
Guyana |
1953 | 1945* |
Guyana Notes |
*”Eligible to sit on the British Guiana Legislation Council” (p. 163). | |
Nicaragua |
April 21st, 1955 | April 21st, 1955 |
Panama |
July 5, 1941* | July 5, 1941/ March 1st, 1946 |
Panama Notes |
*“A 1941 electoral law granted a limited franchise to women (to vote for and be elected to provincial bodies) if they held a university degree or had completed vocational raining, a teacher’s college, or secondary schooling. Full political rights were granted to women in 1946.” (p. 298) | |
Paraguay |
July 5th, 1961 | July 5th, 1961 |
Peru |
September 7th, 1955 | September 7th, 1955 |
Suriname |
December 9th, 1948 | December 9th, 1948 |
Uruguay |
December 16th, 1932 | December 16th, 1932 |
Venezuela |
March 28th, 1946 | March 28th, 1946 |
Resources
Bergmann, Emilie, et al. 1992. Women, Culture, and Politics in Latin America. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Htun, Mala. 2002. “Women in Political Power in Latin America.” In Women in Parliament. Stockholm: International IDEA. . Also in Spanish as “Mujeres en el Parlamento”. http://www.idea.int/publications/wip/upload/Chapter1-Htun-feb03.pdf
Htun, Mala and Mark Jones. 2002. “Engendering the Right to Participate in Decisionmaking: Electoral Quotas and Women’s Leadership in Latin America.” in Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America. Eds. Nikki Craske and Maxine Molyneux. London: Palgrave.
Reif, Linda L. 1986. “Women in Latin American Guerrilla Movements: A Comparative Perspective.” Comparative Politics. 18:2. 147-169.
Safa, Helen I. 1990. “Women’s Social Movements in Latin America.” Gender and Society. 4:3 354-69.
Yeager, Gertrude M. 1994. Confronting Change, Challenging Tradition: Woman in Latin American History. Wilmington, Del: Scholarly Resources.