Catherine Reyes-Housholder

PhD Cornell University

Chile's first female president, Michelle Bachelet, leads her final 2013 presidential campaign event.

Brazil's first female president, Dilma Rousseff, inaugurates a Casa da Mulher Brasileira in Brasília in June 2015.

Welcome to my web site! I am a Postdoctoral Researcher sponsored by Chile's National Science Foundation (Fondecyt), an Associate Researcher at ICSO Universidad Diego Portales, and an Adjunct Researcher at the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES). 
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​I research the presidency and gender with a regional focus on Latin America. My doctoral work centered on the consequences of female presidents. When and why do female presidents name more female ministers than male presidents? Why do female presidents have lower approval ratings than male presidents? How do citizens generally respond to women in executive office?

My current projects examine the causes of female presidents: How, when and why do female presidential candidates outperform male candidates? What traits do citizens stereotypically associate with female and male presidents, and which of these traits do they value in presidents? This body of research on the causes and consequences of women in executive office collectively integrates historical, statistical and experimental data. 

My research has been published in ​Political Research Quarterly, Comparative Politics (twice), Latin American Politics and Society, Politics, Groups and Identities, the ​Journal of Politics in Latin America, Revista de Ciencia Política as well as in four edited volumes. My dissertation "Presidentas, Power and Pro-Women Change" won the 2017 Best Dissertation Award: APSA Women and Politics section. 

I completed fieldwork in Brazil and Chile in 2015 thanks to a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. I also conducted research in Uruguay as a Fulbright undergraduate fellow in 2008.

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