Political power and women's representation in Latin America

""Exceptionally well theorized, methodologically rigorous, and carefully empirical, Leslie Schwindt-Bayer's study of women's political representation in Latin America is a welcome addition to the women and representation scholarship that has until now relied on North American and West European cases. Marshaling data from across Latin America and case-study evidence from Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica, Schwindt-Bayer investigates representation not just in terms of women's physical presence or policy choices: she also examines the structuring of women's representational opportunities within specific legislative contexts, employing a sophisticated conceptualization of representation and drawing insightful conclusions about women's legislative presence for citizens' evaluations of democracy.^ As a result, Political Power and Women's Representation in Latin America will be required reading for students of women and representation, and of representation and democracy more generally." Karen Beckwith, Flora Stone Mather Professor of Political Science, Case Western Reserve University" ""This book catapults the study of women's political representation to a new level. Schwindt-Bayer's theory links formal, descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation whereas previous research generally considered these four types of representation separately. She advances clear hypotheses about the impact of women in legislative office, then tests them against a wealth of original data that includes bill introductions, committee assignments, leadership positions, and constituent service. Schwindt-Bayer supplements this with surveys from male and female Latin American legislators as well as in-depth interviews.^ This book reorients existing debates about women and political power and deserves a wide audience." Lisa Baldez, Associate Professor of Government, Dartmouth College" "The number of women elected to Latin American legislatures has grown significantly over the past thirty years. This increase is due, in large part, to gender-friendly electoral rules such as gender quotas and proportional electoral systems, and it has, in turn, fostered constituent support for representative democracy. Still, this book argues that women are gaining political voice and bringing women's issues to state agendas, but they are not gaining political power. Women are marginalized by the male majority in office and relegated to the least powerful committees and leadership posts, hindering progress toward real political equality." "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.^ She does so by asking a series of politically relevant and theoretically challenging questions, including why the numbers of women in office have increased in some countries but vary across others; what the presence of women in office means for the way representatives legislate; and what consequences the election of women bears for representative democracy more generally." "Schwindt-Bayer articulates a comprehensive theory of women's representation that analyzes and connects trends in relation to four facets of political representation: formal, descriptive, substantive, and symbolic. She then tests this theory empirically using aggregate data from all eighteen Latin American democracies and original fieldwork in Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Ultimately, this book communicates the complex and often incomplete nature of women's political representation in Latin America."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.