Virginia DeFreitas-Battersby

The Barriers Between the Kitchen and the Campaign: Women and Politics in San Jose, Costa Rica

Virginia DeFreitas-Battersby

Costa Rica currently has the highest number of women in Parliament of Latin America and third in the world.

Hoping to increase understanding of women’s political activity in the developing world, I interviewed current and past Costa Rican congresswomen, feminists, scholars, and activists.

My interest with this study was to learn how Costa Rican women became politically active and the barriers they face, and to listen to elite women’s views about women in politics.

This study may eventually help countries learn effective ways to increase women’s political activity, particularly at the level of parliament, and to influence the way they work towards gender equality in their governments.