Latin America’s Left-Turn and the Political Empowerment of Indigenous Women

Abstract Given indigenous women’s position at the intersection of gender and racial oppressions, assessing their political empowerment (or lack thereof) over the course of Latin America’s “left-turn” offers a barometer of just how well pink tide governments succeeded in their promises of inclusion. We assess whether the left turn led to the political empowerment of indigenous women by comparing the center-right government of Peru with the left-wing governments of Bolivia and Ecuador. We find that left governments perform better, but among the left, type of left party matters. Moreover, equally important is the strength of indigenous movements and indigenous women’s organizing.