The Machismo Paradox: Latin America’s Struggles with Feminism and Patriarchy

President Michelle Bachelet marked her second inauguration last month wearing the country’s traditional red, white and blue presidential sash in a ceremony outside the Chile Congress building. Her first term spanned from 2006 to 2010, during which she enjoyed massive public approval. In announcing her second presidential run in March of last year, she promised that she would lead “the first government of the new political and social majority” and “build a more inclusive Chile.” Bachelet’s political success in recent years has been nothing short of extraordinary, especially given that women in Chile only gained the unrestricted right to vote in national elections in 1949. Similar progress has been made throughout Latin America, with women now occupying seats in parliaments and presidential palaces across the region. But in spite of these strides, violence against women and economic disparity between genders remain exceptionally high, leaving much room for progress in the Latin American quest for gender equality. In this light, Bachelet’s promise of a more inclusive Chile may prescribe much-needed regional change.

After Bachelet  approved  a law  calling for  emergency  contraception in state-run hospitals in 2006, Catholic leaders called her administration  a “totalitarian regime.”

Although the gains women have made in recent years are substantial, they have not been grassroots, fast-paced, or easy to achieve. Instead, contradictory heritages of feminism and patriarchy have determined the paths of Presidents Bachelet, Rousseff, Kirchner and Chinchilla. In all six of the presidential elections they have won, these four women have received clear mandates from their countries. In her most recent election last December, Bachelet trounced her opponent — Evelyn Matthei — with 62 percent of the vote. In her 2011 victory, Kirchner received 54 percent in the first round of voting, which was the best performance and biggest margin in that round since 1983. The wide margins of victory that these leaders have enjoyed are suggestive of a strong willingness — and even eagerness — on the part of Latin American voters to elect a woman.

But these promising results carry with them several hidden truths. Each of the four female presidents currently in power had strong ties to the men who preceded them, suggesting that their rise to power — however groundbreaking — still relied on support from the male establishment. Bachelet served as health minister and then defense minister under Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar (interviewed on page 40), who enjoyed widespread popularity. Rousseff began working with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2000, and later served as his first energy minister and chief of staff before being named his successor. When Lula stepped down as president, his approval rating was above 80 percent and he drew immense support from the poor northeastern part of the country. Before 2010, Rousseff had never run for elected office. She would not have won without the support of poorer voters, which — in light of her middle-class, educated background — might have been impossible without Lula’s blessing. Chinchilla was the vice president under Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez, who later endorsed her during her presidential candidacy. And Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was the wife of former President Néstor Kirchner. She succeeded his administration in 2007 after being elected to the presidency. Néstor’s death in 2010 contributed to Kirchner’s already soaring popularity prior to her reelection in 2011; in her acceptance speech, Kirchner said that Néstor was “the founder of this victory.” While any politician benefits from the endorsements of popular public figures, the necessity of male support for these politicians exhibits the enduring patriarchal structure of Latin American society.

Similarly, the rise of women to parliaments in Latin America has been made possible mostly through significant institutional efforts. In 1991, Argentina implemented a quota requiring that a minimum of 30 percent of legislative candidates be women. Today, similar quotas exist in more than a dozen countries in the region. There is a great deal of variability in these laws, in terms of both the percentage they require (ranging from 20 to 50 percent) and the degree to which they are enforced. There is also variability in how the quotas are implemented: Some quota regulations contain loopholes that make them ineffective, while others have proven immensely vital to the promotion of female politicians. In some countries, party efforts to attract women voters have led to quota systems despite a lack of central government policies. The historic success of female politicians in the 2011 Nicaraguan elections, in which women ultimately won more than 50 percent of the majority party’s seats, was helped by a 30 percent voluntary quota enforced by the party. But quotas do not always help; some countries’ quota rules allow parties to put women on their ballots in such a way that they have little or no chance of actually winning a seat in government. Overall, the quota system has proven to be effective in quickly offsetting male-dominated platforms where women used to be largely overlooked.

These four leaders also came to power at ideal times, benefiting from strong support for their parties in other parts of government. Bachelet’s New Majority coalition, for example, has a comfortable majority in both the lower house and the Senate. This should facilitate the implementation of her agenda for more socioeconomic equality in Chile. In 2011, Kirchner’s Justicialist Party cemented its control of the legislature, prompting The Economist to predict at the time that, “[f]or the next two years at least [she] should be able to govern virtually unfettered.” Rousseff and her Workers’ Party have likewise managed to garner strong support in Brazil despite slow economic growth throughout much of her tenure. Like Bachelet and Kirchner, Rousseff began her term alongside a congressional sweep by her party and its coalition. After weathering large-scale street protests last year, Rousseff remains the strong favorite in opinion polls for the next presidential election, to be held in October. As a result of their popular support, these female leaders have the potential not only to advance causes of wide appeal, but also to push forward more contestable policies on social and economic inequality, such as divorce and abortion rights.

Both Kirchner  and Chinchilla have been  outspoken  about their  opposition to  abortion. They have distanced themselves from women’s rights organizations as much for political interests as personal beliefs.