page_title: Women in the Americas
section_title: Women in government
hierarchical_section_title: Women in the Americas / Promoting gender equality for women in the Americas / Women in government
caption_attribution_description: Español: Diputada Federal por la quinta circunscripción
context_page_description: Women in the Americas are women who were born in, who live in, and are from the Americas, a regional area which encompasses the Caribbean region, Central America or Middle America, North America and South America. Their evolution, culture and history coincide with the history of the Americas, though often the experiences of women were different than those of male members of society. The differences in women's experiences often had to do with division of labor or constraints placed on them due to traditional roles in society. The effects of slavery, bondage and colonization has had a profound effect on women in the Americas over time.
  Society for the History of Women in the Americas, is a British organization that studies women's history in context of their connection to the Americas. Studying women's history allows for the restoration of lost information about how women lived, worked and participated in their cultures. Looking at women's history through the lens of a shared geography and culture allows useful comparisons of women's lives in the Americas without nationalism clouding the narrative.
context_section_description: Women hold 48.9% of the parliamentary seats in the Cuban National Assembly ranking sixth of 162 countries on issues of female participation in political life. Panama had a female president as their national leader, in the person of Mireya Moscoso, who was Panama's first female president, serving from 1999 to 2004.
  Many Brazilian women have been elected mayors and many women have been federal judges.  The first female assumed office in the Senate in 1979.  Women became candidates for vice president for the first time in 1994. As of 2009, only 9%  of the seats in the national parliament were held by women.
caption: Erika Araceli Rodriguez Hernández, Federal Deputy for the fifth constituency in Mexico, 2016.
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