Gender and the Presidency: Candidates’ Strategies to Access the Most Powerful Political Institution

• In Event: Representación política de mujeres en América Latina: legislaturas, ministerios, ejecutivos y cortes.

Abstract

Women historically have been excluded from the most powerful political institution – the presidency. Yet, since the return to democracy, women have made competitive runs 27 times in 13 Latin American countries, and they have won nine times in six countries. Do female and male presidential candidates use different strategies to win? What impact could this have on the masculine nature of the presidency as an institution? This paper examines presidential elections in Chile and Brazil, countries where women recently have triumphed. I argue that female and male candidates’ strategies indeed differ. More specifically, I contend that female presidential candidates are more likely than their male counterparts to attempt to mobilize women on the basis of gender identity. Using national newspaper archives, polling data, and presidential platforms, I analyze the electoral strategies of all viable candidates – six men and four women – in the 1999-00 and 2005-06 Chilean and the 2006 and 2010 Brazilian races. Results show that although female candidates are more likely to attempt to mobilize women, they are not necessarily more successful than men. However, these increased attempts to mobilize women on the basis of gender identity could modify the masculine nature of the presidency as an institution.

Author

• Catherine Reyes-Housholder