Despite popular stereotypes of countries dominated by machismo, Latin America has led the way in electing women to executive political office. In the last ten years, women have been elected to the presidency in Chile (Michelle Bachelet, 2006), Argentina (Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, 2007, re-elected 2011), Costa Rica (Laura Chinchilla, 2010), and Brazil (Dilma Rouseff, 2011). This talk examines how gender has shaped the meaning and social significance of the office of the presidency and how women presidents are challenging the often taken-for-granted connections between men, masculinity and political power embedded within political institutions.

Gwynn Thomas is an Associate Professor of Global Gender Studies in the Department of Transnational Studies. Her research and teaching focuses on gender and politics in Latin America. Dr. Thomas teaches courses on feminist theory, women and politics in Latin America, global women's movements, and the gendered development of nation-states. Her first book, Contesting Legitimacy in Chile: Familial Ideals, Citizenship, and Political Struggle, 1970-1990 (Penn State Press 2011), examines the mobilization of familial beliefs in Chilean political conflicts. A current book project, When a Woman Leads, analyzes the election women presidents in Latin America. Central to this new scholarship is an analysis of presidency of Michelle Bachelet, Chile's first woman president, and her gender-equality agenda. Work from this ongoing study appears in the Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, The International Feminist Journal of Politics, and in a volume on the global rise of women to national office. She has also been published in the ISA Compendium Project, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and Latin American Perspectives. She received the Elsa Chaney Award given by the Gender and Feminist Studies section of the Latin American Studies Association (2007). Her research has been supported by grants from the Social Science Research Council, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Tinker Foundation, the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender, and the Humanities Institute.