40 years after the Chilean military coup d'état in Chile (1973) and 50 years after the coup in Brazil (1964), it is interesting to analyze and compare the demonstrations and protest actions that right-wing women (middle class and bourgeois women) led in order to destabilize the governments of Goulart and Allende. In both countries these women led successful campaigns against the constitutionally elected governments. For this objective, they gathered together, established coalitions with other sectors, received increased support, went out to the public space, demanded the resignation of the president and called for other women to speak out against the Marxism and the defense of the homeland, the order and the family. These women's actions and their effectiveness were deeply marked by the defense of the traditional gender roles and the conceptions of women's political participation which tended to deny the political nature of the women's performance.
Gender; dictatorships; political participation