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Part of
Discourse, Politics and Women as Global Leaders
Edited by John Wilson and Diana Boxer
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 63] 2015
► pp. 43–66

Chapter 2. Breaking the glass & keeping the ceiling

Women presidents’ discursive practices in Latin America

| Goucher College
ORCID logo | University of Florida

During the last half of the 20th century grass root women’s movements have been instrumental in the transition to democracy in Latin America. These social movements were followed by an increased political representation of women at the congressional level, and within the last few decades, six women have been chosen to the highest office: Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990–97), Nicaragua; Mireya Moscoso de Arias (1999–2004), Panamá; Laura Chinchilla (2010–2014), in Costa Rica; Michelle Bachelet (2006–2010 & 2014 to present), Chile; Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (2007–to present), Argentina; Dilma Rousseff (2011 to present), Brazil. In our paper, we examine the discursive practices that allowed Kirchner and Bachelet to win their presidencies, and their position on gender, human rights, and economic issues.

Keywords: discursive practice, gender, Latin America, leadership styles, women’s movements
Published online: 30 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.63.03cor
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Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Boxer, Diana, Lennie M. Jones & Florencia Cortés-Conde
2017. Cracking the Concrete Ceiling in Male-Dominated Societies: A Tale of Three ‘Presidentas’. In Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse, ► pp. 195 ff. DOI logo
Jalalzai, Farida, Brianna Kreft, Lizbet Martinez-Port, Pedro A. G. dos Santos & Brigid M. Smith
2022. A tough woman around tender men: Dilma Rousseff, gendered double bind, and misogynistic backlash. Frontiers in Political Science 4 DOI logo

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