At the regional level, Latin America plays a leading role in the use of legal gender quotas for national elections. Argentina became the first country in the world to introduce such a quota in 1991, and many states have followed this example in the 1990s (e.g. Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela). As a result, more than half of Latin American states have implemented gender quota legislation that require significant proportions from 20% to 40% of female candidates for the election to national parliaments.