The unprecedented rise of women to executive office has spurred new research across political science. Within gender and politics, this new scholarship has mostly focused on examining the factors that promote or hinder women's rise to executive office. One important finding is that crises within political parties have provided crucial political opening for women to either position themselves as candidates in presidential systems or to take over the political leadership of parties to become prime ministers in parliamentary systems. While providing new opportunities, party crises also mean that women executives often take office in partnership with weakened political parties. What does this mean in terms of women executives' abilities to govern effectively and to promote their political agendas? What role does the relationship between parties and presidents play in whether women presidents are able to successfully govern?
This paper seeks to answer these questions by examining how the relationship between Michelle Bachelet (Chile, 2006-2010) and Laura Chinchilla (Costa Rica, 2010-2014) and their respective political parties shaped their presidencies. Both Bachelet and Chinchilla rose to the presidency partly by taking advantage of the opening provided by political crises. In both cases, their candidacies were seen as a way to maintain their parties or coalition's hold on power in the face of growing criticisms over political corruption and voter disenchantment with an entrenched political elite. Once in office, however, ongoing party crises and strained relationships with party elites often hindered the ability of both Bachelet and Chinchilla to successfully implement their agenda and govern their countries. They also faced resistance by political elites because of their gender. Thus, this study provides new research into the inner working of the gendered executive by analyzing how the relationship between presidents and their parties effects presidential success, a topic rarely examined in political science literature.
