Cesty k paritě: Zastoupení žen ve funkcích ministrů v zemích Latinské Ameriky
Paths to Parity: Women´s Representation in Ministerial Positions in Latin American Countries

Summary/Abstract: Women´s representationn in politics in Latin America has grown significantly in the last twenty years. There are more women in parliaments, more female presidents and presidential candidates, and more female ministers as well. Since 2000 seven out of nineteen Latin American countries have achieved substantially high number of female ministers (40 – 50 per cent and more in presidential cabinets. Also the percentage of female ministers has increased about 16 % without using gender quotas, during the last four presidential terms. The main goal of the article was to find out circumstances contributing to the increase, and factors influencing decisions of the presidents to appoint female ministers. The research included the percentage of women holding ministerial seats in each of last four presidential terms in nineteen countries of Latin America (up to 2016). In the study was used ordinary least square regression to examine the influence of explanatory variables (the ideology of presidents, their effort to be reelected, percentage of women in parliaments and socioeconomic development of Latin American countries) on the number of female ministers. In conclusion, the analysis confirmed higher tendency to appoint women in the cases of leftist presidents, striving for reelection in the countries with higher percentage of women in parliament . The results also indicated connections between appointment of women and populism and indirect influence of legislative gender quotas on women´s representation in government, which are possible ways for future research.

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