Political Power and Women's Representation in Latin America

Though the number of women elected to Latin American legislatures has grown significantly over the past thirty years, women - marginalized in office and relegated to the least powerful committees and leadership posts - are not gaining political power. In Political Power and Women's Representation in Latin America, Leslie Schwindt-Bayer examines the causes and consequences of women's representation in Latin America. Drawing on aggregate data from all eighteen Latin American democracies and original fieldwork in Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica, the book articulates a comprehensive theory that tackles the complex and often incomplete nature of women's political representation in Latin America.