By Sara Miller Llana - CS Monitor Staff writer - Rio de Janeiro (Feb. 8, 2010) — Jacqueline Campos, a lifelong resident of Rio de Janeiro, says she is not inspired by the ideas being floated ahead of presidential elections here later this year. But she still views the 2010 race as a landmark one: a woman has more than an outside chance of becoming president of Brazil.

The election, slated for October, could see at least two women on the ballot. Dilma Rousseff, of the governing Workers’ Party (PT), has the better shot at winning. She is currently chief of staff for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is barred from seeking a third four-year term. The other female contestant is Marina Silva, a former environment minister who broke away from the PT.

A woman at the helm of the largest country and economy in Latin America would be a breakthrough for women politicians across the region. Already, in the past four years, two South American women have led their countries: President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and President Cristina Elizabet Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina. And though Ms. Rousseff is polling behind her closest male competitor, the race is being viewed as a boost to women’s rights in Latin America.

Chile’s outgoing President Bachelet was elected in 2006, and the following year, Ms.Fernández de Kirchner won the presidency in Argentina. Their victories come as female representation overall has increased in the region, with women constituting about 25 percent of ministerial cabinets, according to a study published in 2008 by various institutions including the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

In Latin America’s legislatures, women’s representation increased by 35 percent from 2000 to 2008, according to the study. (Women made up only 16 percent of the US Congress in 2008.)

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