Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
[For] women to begin to participate more fully in politics on an equal par with men, the changes that have to take place go far beyond the raising of consciousness of women themselves, as well as of the men. Major changes will also be necessary in the structure of the society, in particular in the relationship between the two institutions—the family and the polity.
In this concluding paragraph of a paper on Brazilian women, Blachman (1972) charts two major areas of significance to those interested in the study of women—the ideological dimension and the institutional reality. At the same time we are reminded that the link between the two, a dialectic of structures and values, may still be the most confounding and frustrating obstacle to an analysis of women in society and, for our interests here, women in politics. (For an excellent overview of the material on women in Latin America, see Pescatello, 1972.)