Women go to power in Latin America.
Next year, Mexico, a nation where femicides are part of a painful daily life and where charros are “very macho” to the point of being caricatured, will have a female head of state for the first time in its history. Two women are the main contenders in the 2024 presidential battle: Claudia Sheinbaum, as a candidate supported by the popular leftist president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz, as a candidate of an important opposition alliance that includes the two main historical parties.
Politically close to the PAN,
A few kilometers further south, in Venezuela, where a woman has never reached the first judgeship, another lady appears as an electoral phenomenon: María Corina Machado. Today she comfortably leads all the country’s polls, both for the 2024 presidential election and for the primary election scheduled for next October 22, which must elect the sole candidate of the democratic opposition.
At least one of these three engineers by profession will be president. And surely all three will leave marks on the female ladder to power.
Two of the most sexist countries on the continent
Mexico and Venezuela are among the most sexist countries on the continent. One in four Mexicans and one in three Venezuelans think that belonging to the male gender is a guarantee of better political performance. But the figures are not too different from those of the subregion: one in five Latin Americans believes that “men are better political leaders than women.”
How is it possible that in these circumstances women prepare to take political power? Probably part of the answer lies in the political values that uphold their electoral options. There are feminine values and masculine values in politics, as there are in management and as there are, stereotypically, in society.
While the feminine values of politics are linked to sensitivity, empathy, reconciliation, affection, compassion, the child factor, emotionality and environmentalism, the masculine traits are associated with warlike values, strength, confrontation. , toughness, the ability to argue, aggressiveness, and self-control.
Women led better in the pandemic
During the COVID-19 crisis, a study found that pandemic-related outcomes, including the number of cases and deaths, were consistently better in countries led by women. Another Harvard study identified that women are better at leadership during crises. Respondents placed greater importance on interpersonal skills, such as “inspires and motivates,” “communicates strongly,” “works as a team,” and “builds relationships.” In general, women scored more positively in 13 of the 19 overall leadership effectiveness competencies. Not all women represent the feminine values of politics, nor do all men represent the masculine ones. On the other hand, there are times when a society demands to be led by feminine political values and others by more confrontational or masculine values.
The Mexican Xóchitl Gálvez is a technology entrepreneur. She talks about improvement, empowerment, understanding, dismisses violence as an instrument, passionately defends ecology and the preservation of the habitat. In her own way, she represents the American dream of personal improvement, made in Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum is of Jewish origin, an academic, a doctor who is an expert in energy and climate change and has just been mayor of the complicated megalopolis of Mexico City.
María Corina Machado softens her speech
For her part, Venezuelan María Corina Machado has been a well-known politician in the country for at least two decades. Her family background links her to the corporate world. At the time, her argumentative and confrontational strength against President Hugo Chávez was notable, with actions that would be better framed within the masculine values of politics.
Today, María Corina’s message has evolved: it is softer, it continues to confront power very harshly, but it is empathetic and open towards the Chavista people. She talks about reconciliation and reunion. He moves the mothers and grandmothers of each Venezuelan town he visits to tears when he carries the message of family reunion, evoking the return home of the children of Venezuela, who today are part of a very large diaspora of 8 million Venezuelans (of the who are part of their own children).
Only 15 women have been heads of state in Latin America, according to analyst José Rafael Vilar. However, only 9 of them have come to power through popular vote, the rest have done so because they have had to occupy the position of maximum political responsibility in the midst of major crises. Such are the recent cases of the former Bolivian president Jeanine Añez (now a political prisoner of the government) or the Peruvian Dina Boluarte, currently in provisional mandate.
From ceilings to glass cliffs
Their situations, like those of other lesser-known cases such as that of Dinorah Figuera, appointed president of the National Assembly of the outgoing Juan Guaidó in Venezuela, are reminiscent of cases of “glass cliffs.” The concept alludes to the well-known “glass ceilings” that organizations impose on women’s hierarchical promotion, but refers to the fact that in times of deep crisis, women have better possibilities of reaching higher profile positions. Men step away because the task has a high probability of failure.
It is worth remembering something obvious: one in two people is a woman. Less obvious, however, is knowing that only one in five parliamentarians is a woman, only one in every 4 ministers is a minister or why very few university rectors are female rectors. All, according to statistics on the gender gap measured year by year by the Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (GGGR). In the four subindices established by the global gender gap index, the greatest disparity is found in political empowerment.
At the current rate, gender gaps may take 53 years to close in Latin America and the Caribbean. After Europe and North America, the region has the third highest level of parity. Politically, with a parity of 35%, the region has the second highest score, after Europe, in the political empowerment subindex (GGGR, 2023).
Women in power in Mexico, closing the gender gap?
In particular, Mexico, a country with 65 million women, has closed its gap and has been growing year after year in its parity score. In 2022 it rose three positions in the ranking world. The subindex driving Mexico’s results is primarily political empowerment and, specifically, parity at the parliamentary level.
These relatively good indicators for the region are overshadowed by the data from Venezuela: between 2020 and 2021 it fell 24 positions in the ranking of the GGGR, to occupy position 91 of the 156 countries included in the measurement. Of the 26 Latin American countries, Venezuela is in 24th place.
I believe that being a woman is a competitive advantage in politics today, and in 2024 Mexico and Venezuela will be able to show proof of this. Differentiation is an asset. Being a woman facilitates better transmission of emotional messages, as well as having greater credibility on social issues and against violence. It also implies being better perceived in fundamental values of 21st century politics, such as empathy, ecology and the capacity for reconciliation, political values in great demand in contemporary Latin America. Women are on the verge of an attack on power.
Carmen Beatriz Fernández, Professor of Political Communication at UNAV, IESA and Pforzheim, university of Navarra
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.