Conclusion
In the concluding chapter, Lesile A. Schwindt-Bayer brings together the findings from the arena and country chapters to draw general conclusions about gender and representation in Latin America. She highlights that the chapters show the weakness of cultural and socioeconomic explanations for increases in women’s representation, and instead, they demonstrate the importance of political institutions and the current political context as causes of women’s representation. The chapters show that the consequences of women’s representation are mixed. Women in office promote women’s issues and have worked to improve social policy, but little evidence exists that women are transforming the gendered nature of political arenas. Additionally, the presence of women in different arenas of representation has improved attitudes toward gender equality and democracy but to relatively small degrees. The chapter concludes by describing areas where more research is needed to help set a future research agenda on gender and representation in Latin America.