A pioneering study of women legislators in Latin America found that in the 1993-1994 parliament, woman deputies in Argentina were 9.5 per cent more likely to sponsor children and family bills than their male counterparts. Furthermore, despite representing only 14 per cent of deputies, Argentina’s women parliamentarians introduced no fewer than 78 per cent of the bills related to women’s rights.

This pattern of advocacy by women legislators on behalf of women and children is also found in industrialized countries. A recent examination of New Zealand’s parliamentary debates on childcare and parental leave over a 25-year period (1975-1999) revealed similar tendencies on the part of women legislators.