Mexico's governing conservative party has for the first time selected a woman candidate to run in the country's presidential election.

Mexico's governing conservative party has for the first time selected a woman candidate to run in the country's presidential election.

Former education minister Josefina Vazquez Mota beat Ernesto Cordero, the preferred candidate of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Mexico’s gender quota system has made a significant difference for women seeking election to the Mexican Congress. In the last 15 years, the percentage of seats occupied by women has increased from 10 to 26 percent.  

But at the municipal level, women have not had such success. The number of women mayors in the country averages 5.5 percent, and in some areas the percentages are smaller. An example is the Mexican state of Michoacán, on the central western coast, which elected just three women mayors in its 113 municipalities.