The status of women in Argentina has changed significantly following the return of democracy in 1983; and they have attained a relatively high level of equality. In the Global Gender Gap Report prepared by the World Economic Forum in 2009, Argentine women ranked 24th among 134 countries studied in terms of their access to resources and opportunities relative to men. They enjoy comparable levels of education, and somewhat higher school enrollment ratios than their male counterparts. They are well integrated in the nation's cultural and intellectual life, though less so in the nation's economy. Their economic clout in relation to men is higher than in most Latin American countries, however, and numerous Argentine women hold top posts in the Argentine corporate world; among the best known are María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, former CEO and majority stakeholder of Loma Negra, the nation's largest cement manufacturer, and Ernestina Herrera de Noble, director of Grupo Clarín, the premier media group in Argentina.
Former President of Argentina Cristina Fernández is a woman. She has had two full-terms as President. As of 2023, she is the current Vice President of Argentina.
Juana Azurduy de Padilla, led independence fighters in the Rio de la Plata region
Abduction of a white Argentine woman, Doña Trinidad Salcedo by Araucanians painted by Johann Moritz Rugendas
Eva Perón, 1947
Feminism in Argentina is a set of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women in Argentina. Although some women have been considered precursors—among them Juana Manso and Juana Manuela Gorriti—feminism was introduced to the country as a result of the great European immigration wave that took place in the late 19th and early 20th century. The first feminists did not form a unified movement, but included anarchist and socialist activists, who incorporated women's issues into their revolutionary program, and prestigious freethinker women, who initially fought for access to higher education and, later, legal equality with men. The early 20th century was also full of women fighting for their freedom and rights in the workplace. Despite the efforts of the first-wave feminists, Argentine women did not acquire the right to vote until 1947, during Juan Perón's first government. His highly popular wife, Eva, championed women's suffrage and founded and ran the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Female Peronist Party. Although she refused to identify herself as a feminist, Eva Perón is valued for having redefined the role of women in politics.
Juana Manso, regarded as a pioneer of feminism in South America.
Front page of the first issue of anarcha-feminist newspaper La Voz de la Mujer, January 8, 1896.
Feminist activist Julieta Lanteri becoming the first Latin American woman to vote in 1911.
Women voting in 1920 in Buenos Aires as part of a mock election campaign carried out by feminist activists.
