- Beatriz Merino
Beatriz Merino Lucero (born
November 15 ,1947 ) was the first and so far only female Prime Minister ofPeru .Beatriz Merino Lucero was the prime minister of Peru, which is the highest ranking position ever held by a woman in the history of Peru [Initial Signatories to the Global Action Plan] . She held office between 23 June 2003 and 12 December 2003. Before serving as prime minister, she graduated from Harvard with a Master’s degree in law. She also obtained an LLM degree from the London School of Economics in 1974. Merino was director of the Women’s Leadership Program at the Inter-American Development Bank to support and finance projects to enhance women’s leadership in Latin America. She also worked as a lawyer at the law firm Estudio Merino and Reano and worked extensively in commercial, labor, corporate and environmental legislation [Initial Signatories to the Global Action Plan ] . She served as a Senator from 1990-1992 and then served in Congress from 1995-2000. She was also the first Peruvian woman to serve on the Commission of Andean Jurists. At Lima University, she was also the director of foreign cooperation and of the Master’s program on tax revenues and fiscal policies. Her short reign in office was ended when she was fired by President Alejandro Toledo. She has a 60% approval rating before the rumors started that she was a lesbian. Merino was unmarried and had purchased a home with a female colleague. In a strictly Roman Catholic nation, the accusations were enough for her dismissal; which she learned about after returning from a trip to the United States [Wildman, Sarah] . Now, she leads the
Ombudsman Programs in Peru (2006-2011).References
*Wildman, Sarah. "Prime Minister's Peril." Advocate 907 (2004): 15. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Hugh Stephens Library, Columbia. 5 Apr. 2008. Keyword: Beatriz Merino.
*"Initial Signataries to the Global Action Plan." Win with Women Global Initiative. NDI Women's Programs. 5 Apr. 2008
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
