, 17 women in 12 countries have served as constitutional president of their country.
Background
Latin American countries commonly use presidential systems. However, some nations have prime ministers that the president appoints. This includes Peru, which has had several female prime ministers.
Argentine Isabel Martinez de Peron was the first woman in the world to hold the title of president of any country, though not the first to be head of government. Rather than being elected to the position of president, she assumed the presidency following the death of president Juan Peron, under whom she served both as First Lady and vice president. This is a common situation: of 13 women, 5 assumed the presidency in the absence of a president.
Most female presidents in Latin America are part of the pink tide movement, which espouses ideologies on the left of the spectrum such as socialism, democratic socialism, left-wing populism, anti-neoliberalism, and left-wing nationalism. Leaders including Chile's Michelle Bachelet, Argentina's Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, Honduras's Xiomara Castro, and Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum all fall under this movement. However, in recent years, female politicians on the right have increasingly served as president in Latin America, including Bolivia's Jeanine Áñez, Costa Rica's Laura Fernández, and Peru's Keiko Fujimori.
Of 13 individual women, 8 were elected to power at least once, the first being Violeta Chamorro in the 1990 Nicaraguan general election in which she defeated Daniel Ortega. Centrists like Laura Chinchilla have also been elected. Michelle Bachelet, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and Dilma Rousseff are the only three to have been elected to a second term, and the former two are the only to complete two terms. Elections including the 2013 Chilean presidential election and the 2024 Mexican presidential election have seen two female candidates run against each other.
List of leaders
This list includes women who were elected by national popular vote or ascended to their country's presidency. The list does not include women who served as interim or acting head of state. This list has a strict definition of Latin America (Hispanic or Portuguese speaking countries in continental Latin America), and excludes countries in the Caribbean such as Haiti and French speaking countries on the continent such as French Guiana, or multi cultural and lingual countries like Belize.
+ Name Portrait Country Office Mandate start Mandateend Term length Head of stateor government Executiveor non-executiveIsabel PerónPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveLidia GueilerPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveVioleta ChamorroPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveRosalía ArteagaPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveMireya MoscosoPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveMichelle BacheletPresident4 yearsHead of state and governmentExecutive4 yearsCristina Fernández de KirchnerPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveLaura ChinchillaPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveDilma RousseffPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveJeanine ÁñezPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveXiomara CastroPresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveDina BoluartePresidentHead of state and governmentExecutiveClaudia Sheinbaum PresidentIncumbentHead of state and governmentExecutiveRosario MurilloCo-presidentIncumbentHead of state and governmentExecutiveDelcy RodriguezPresidentIncumbentHead of state and governmentExecutiveLaura Fernández DelgadoPresidentIncumbentHead of state and governmentExecutiveKeiko FujimoriPresidentIncumbentHead of state and governmentExecutive
See also List of elected and appointed female state leaders List of current heads of state and government Women in government Pink tide Conservative wave
References