by Rod Hughes

Perhaps it was the strong run for the Democrat nomination of Sen. Hillary Clinton in the United States that prompted the question from La Nacion reporter Alvaro Murillo to President Oscar Arias: Is this country ready for a woman president?

Arias’s response was unequivacably affirmative, even down to saying he would not mind campaigning for a woman candidate in 2010. This will inevitably raise speculation that current Vice President Laura Chinchilla might go for the National Liberation Party nomination next term. Certainly she knows how government works, having been Minister of Public Security previously, and the current widespread concern about crime could propel her into the chief executive’s seat. And she has been increasingly high profile lately.

The president, caught on a trip to Nicaragua, mused on the question this way, “Other countries with less political culture than ours have had (women presidents) such as Nicaragua (Violeta Barrios Chamorro, 1990-97). Currently, two women have carried elections by their own merit, Mishelle Bachelet in Chile and Christina Fernandez in Argentina.” Panama has also had its female chief executive.

Arias could think of other reasons as well, especially in Costa Rica. “There are more women in universities. And, also, women have many virtues, some superior to men,” said Arias, “Today, no one argues about their intelligence or their preparation because they’ve demonstrated this in both the public and private sector. Moreover, they have superior values in ethics. They’re more transparent and honest.”

But, the, Arias has always been an “emancipated” politician, backing his ex-wife, Margarita Penon, in her unsuccessful bid for the National Liberation Party nomination in 1993. At that time, cynics said that Arias wanted to use Penon as a front so he could be the power behind the presidential office. This is a disservice to both. Penon was her own woman, a Vassar graduate with strong views about the course the country should take.

Ironically, Costa Rica, the most open and the oldest of Latin American democracies has never had a woman president, partly because of an entrenched machismo in the old guard of established political parties. That appears to be a viewpoint on its way out the door.