Women's Political Behavior in Latin America

This book offers the first comprehensive analysis of how gender shapes electoral behaviour across Latin America. Bringing together experts from across the region, it examines how women in each of the 18 Latin American countries have voted in comparison with men, and how their patterns of political participation—particularly turnout—have evolved over time. The chapters explore four gender gaps widely identified in advanced democracies: (a) the traditional versus modern values gap; (b) the gender gap in support for populist radical right parties; (c) the turnout gap; and (d) the gap in support for female candidates. The analyses draw on individual-level data from national and cross-national surveys, as well as aggregate data from official electoral sources and international agencies, employing linear, logistic, multinomial, and multilevel regression models. Depending on data availability, the temporal scope of each country study ranges from 6 to 40 years, encompassing more than 100 elections. The findings reveal that in Latin America, the political-institutional, economic, and cultural contexts of each country crucially shape how these four gender gaps manifest in women’s political behavior. This work could be presented as "author meets critics" Professor Niki Johnson (Universidad de la República) could serve as discussant.