NEWS: Chile Will Elect First Woman President This Year, page 1

Prior to Christmas 2005 it is a dead certainty that Chile will elect its first female President. The country has seen many forms of oppressive government but under its democtratic process the confirmed candidates for the two major parties are both women. This news is getting increasing coverage in the US major dailies.

www.chicagotr ibune.com
By Eduardo Gallardo
Associated Press
Published March 20, 2005

SANTIAGO, Chile -- In this socially conservative country, where domestic violence is common and women earn much less than men, two top parties have selected women as presidential nominees, virtually ensuring that Chile will get its first female head of state.

Opinion polls show Michelle Bachelet and Soledad Alvear with huge leads over all other rivals for the Dec. 12 election.

"There are still some macho attitudes in our country, but all opinion polls show that a major cultural change has occurred in that respect," Alvear said. "The time has come for a woman president."

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Chile follows the lead of many nations all over the worlds in the latter part of the last century, including the UK, Pakistan, India, New Zealand and many others... but not yet seen in the USA, although there has been much talk of the candidacy of prominent women in the Republican and Democrat camps.

"Women are seen as more honest, more concerned about the poor and more democratic," said Maria de los Angeles Fernandez, a political scientist at Diego Portales University in Santiago.

What causes both parties to simultaneously see eye to eye in their approach to gender politics? Is it a case of best person for the job, or one party following the other's suit, or the knowledge in a nation such as Chile that women hold the electoral majority balance? Will it happen in the US soon too?