The election of left wing leaders in Latin America -some of them women- raises the question of what this “pink tide” implies for women’s rights and gender equality agendas. One area were these new regimes apparently have been making progress is gender based violence. In this paper I compare new legislation against gender based violence adopted by the left wing governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador. How do these new laws differ from earlier legislation? Is new legislation more inclusive in addressing intersectional issues? Were feminist and other civil society organisations actively involved in the process of drawing up these proposals? Do these new laws address underlying problems of economic and social inequalities faced by women? My research indicates that changes in political regimes have not overall improved the institutional access of advocacy groups to influence this legislation and that the success of impacting policies therefor depends on the creation of adhoc triangles of empowerment.