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Argentina elects first woman president |
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29 October 2007
UN-INSTRAW extends its congratulations to Argentina’s first elected female head of state, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. On Sunday October 28th, Fernández won the election with nearly 45% of the vote, outpacing her chief rivals Elisa Carrió of the Civic Coalition (who secured 23% of the vote) and Roberto Lavagna, former Economy Minister (17%). Eleven other candidates split the remaining 15%. The first lady will take over the leadership of Argentina on December 10th.
Fernández studied law at the National University of La Plata, where she met her future spouse, Néstor Kirchner, whom she married in 1975. The 54-year-old mother of two children began her political career in the 1970s. Fernández has held numerous political positions, such as representative to the provincial legislature of Santa Cruz, and has been an itinerant ambassador for her government since 2003.
Especially popular among the working and poorer classes, Fernández is expected to reduce poverty in her country. In addition, Fernández will have to address the continuing challenge of gender inequality and the demands of Argentinean women, which include better reproductive health services, a response to the very high rates of teenage pregnancy, prevention and attention to domestic violence, and greater public support for working women who face decreasing salaries and rising inflation.
UN-INSTRAW works to support women in politics and stresses the importance of achieving gender parity in political representation. In this context, the election of Cristina Fernandez to the presidency is a step towards increasing women’s participation in strategic political positions. This victory could encourage other women to enter the political sphere and could help to break gender stereotypes.
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