Next year, Mexico, a nation where femicides are part of a painful daily routine and where charros are "very macho" to the point of caricature, will have a female head of state for the first time in its history. Two women are the main contenders for the 2024 presidential battle: Claudia Sheinbaum, as the candidate supported by the popular leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz, as the candidate of a major opposition alliance that includes the two main historical parties.

Politically close to the PAN, Xóchitl Gálvez was consolidated as the consensus candidate in the primaries when another woman, the PRI candidate, Beatriz Paredes, resigned in her favor after a demoscopic analysis showed a comfortable advantage for the PAN candidate.

A few kilometers further south, in Venezuela, where no woman has ever reached the presidency either, another lady is emerging as an electoral phenomenon: María Corina Machado. Today she comfortably leads all polls in the country, both for the presidential election of 2024, as well as for the primary election scheduled for next October 22, which will elect the sole candidate of the democratic civil service examination .

At least one of these three female engineers will be president. And all three are sure to leave their mark on the female ladder to power.

Mexico and Venezuela are among the most sexist countries on the continent. One in four Mexicans and one in three Venezuelans think that belonging to the male gender is a guarantee of better political performance. But these figures are not too different from those of the sub-region: one out of every five Latin Americans believes that "men are better political leaders than women".

How is it possible that in these circumstances women are preparing to take political power? Probably part of the answer lies in the political values that they espouse in their electoral choices. There are feminine values and masculine values in politics, as there are in management and as there are, stereotypically, in society.

While the feminine values of politics are linked to sensitivity, empathy, reconciliation, affection, compassion, the child factor, emotionality and environmentalism, the masculine traits are associated with warlike values, strength, confrontation, toughness, the ability to argue, aggressiveness, and self-control.

During the COVID-19 crisis a study found that pandemic-related outcomes, including issue cases and deaths, were consistently better in countries led by women. Another Harvard study identified that women exercise better leadership during crises. Respondents placed greater importance on interpersonal skills, such as "inspires and motivates," "communicates powerfully," "works as a team player," and "builds relationships." Overall, women scored evaluation more positively on 13 of the 19 general leadership effectiveness competencies. Not all women represent the feminine values of politics, nor do all men represent the masculine values. On the other hand, there are times when a society demands to be led by feminine political values and other times by more confrontational or masculine values.

Mexican Xóchitl Gálvez is a technology entrepreneur. She speaks of self-improvement, empowerment, understanding, disdains violence as an instrument, passionately defends ecology and habitat preservation. In her own way, she represents the American dream of self-improvement staff, made in Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum is of Jewish origin, an academic, an expert doctor in energy and climate change, and has just become mayor of the complicated megalopolis of Mexico City.

For her part, Venezuelan María Corina Machado has been a well-known politician in the country for at least two decades. Her family background links her to the corporate world. At the time she was B her argumentative and confrontational strength against President Hugo Chávez, with actions that would be better framed within the masculine values of politics.

Today, Maria Corina's message has evolved: she is softer, she continues to confront power very harshly, but she is empathetic and open towards the Chavista people. She speaks of reconciliation and reunion. She moves to tears the mothers and grandmothers of every Venezuelan town that visit brings the message of family reunion, evoking the return home of the children of Venezuela, who today are part of a vast diaspora of 8 million Venezuelans (of which her own children are part).

Only 15 women have been heads of state in Latin America, according to analyst José Rafael Vilar. However, only 9 of them have come to power by popular vote, the rest have come to power because they have had to occupy the highest political responsibility position in the midst of major crises. Such are the recent cases of former Bolivian president Jeanine Añez (today a political prisoner of the government) or Peruvian Dina Boluarte, currently in provisional mandate.

Their situations, like those of other lesser-known cases such as Dinorah Figuera, appointed president of the National Assembly of the outgoing Juan Guaidó in Venezuela, are reminiscent of cases of "glass cliffs". The concept alludes to the well-known "glass ceilings" that organizations impose on the hierarchical promotion of women, but refers to the fact that in times of deep crisis women have a better chance of reaching higher positions profile. Men step aside because the task has a high probability of failure.

It is worth remembering a truism: one out of every two people is a woman. Less obvious, however, is the fact that only one in five parliamentarians is a woman, only one in four ministers is a woman, or why very few university rectors are women. All this, according to statistics on the gender gap measured year after year by the Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (GGGR). In the four sub-indices established by the global gender gap index, the greatest disparity is found in political empowerment.

At the current rate, gender gaps may take 53 years to close in Latin America and the Caribbean. After Europe and North America, the region has the third highest level of parity. Politically, with 35% parity, the region has the second highest score, after Europe, in the political empowerment sub-index (GGGR, 2023).

In particular, Mexico, a country with 65 million women, has closed its gap and has been growing year by year in its parity score. In 2022 it climbed three positions in the world ranking. The sub-index that drives Mexico's results is mainly political empowerment and, specifically, parity at the parliamentary level.

These relatively good indicators for the region are overshadowed by Venezuela's data : between 2020 and 2021 it fell 24 places in the GGGR ranking, to rank 91st out of the 156 countries included in the measurement. Of the 26 Latin American countries, Venezuela ranks 24th.

I believe that being a woman today is a competitive advantage in politics, and in 2024 Mexico and Venezuela will be able to demonstrate this. Differentiation is an asset. Being a woman facilitates a better transmission of emotional messages, as well as having greater credibility on social issues and against violence. It also implies being better perceived in fundamental values of 21st century politics, such as empathy, ecology and the capacity for reconciliation, political values that are in great demand in contemporary Latin America. Women are on the verge of an attack on power.