Machismo Mandates and Feminist Formulas: Effective Feminist Social Movements in Costa Rica and Mexico

This thesis explains the factors required for a feminist movement to have success regarding the mobilization of the political elite to pass a substantial gender representation law to increase the number of women serving in political office. It examines the feminist movement in Costa Rica, which has been incredibly successful, taking part in the passage of the most effective gender representation policy in Latin America, and the feminist movement in Mexico, which has not been able to achieve the same results. It concludes with the usage of social movement theory to explain Costa Rica’s success, and Mexico’s inability to attain the same outcome