Central
America to promote women’s leadership in local
politics
United Nations Institute and Central American
Ministers agree
to promote greater political participation of
women
[Santo
Domingo - 29 May 2006]
--- Last Friday in Panama, Ministers from Central America and the United Nations Institute for the
Advancement of Women signed an agreement to strengthen women’s participation in
decision making in local politics within the framework of a project supported by
Spanish cooperation.
The agreement
on women’s political participation at the local level was signed at the end of
two days of discussions between the Council of Central American Ministers for
Women’s Affairs [Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica] (COMMCA) and
the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW).
The document,
reached by consensus, stipulates that INSTRAW and COMMCA will jointly develop
national and regional activities such as the preparation of research studies,
technical training workshops and the dissemination of good practices by means of
communications tools.
The strategic
alliance between both institutions is framed within the project “Strengthening
governance with a gender perspective and women’s political participation at the
local level” financed by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation
[Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional] (AECI) and carried out by
INSTRAW in countries of the Andean region, in Central America and in
Mexico.
According to
statistics compiled by INSTRAW, the political participation of women in Latin
America has slowly increased over the past decade, from 9% to 14% in executive
positions, from 5% to 13% in the senate, and from 8% a 15% in the lower house or
in single house parliaments.
“At the
national level, there has been evidence of a feminization of political life in
Latin America,” the Director of INSTRAW, Carmen
Moreno commented in the press conference. “However, there is stagnation at the
local level. Women who represent more than 50% of the population in Latin
American are leading in only 5% of all the municipal governments”, added the
head of the only UN institute working exclusively for women’s progress.
“This is
totally unacceptable. Not only for women. The still fragile democracies in
Latin America cannot advance if half of the
population is wasted and if women’s presence in political life continues to be
ignored”, emphasized Carmen Moreno.
The
Panamanian Minister for Social Development and President pro tempore of COMMCA,
María Roquebert León explained that “thanks to the technical assistance provided
by INSTRAW, the capacities of national gender institutions and COMMCA will be
strengthened in order to place the issue of women’s political participation on
the agenda as an issue of democracy”.
Also signing
the document as honorary witness was Leire Pajín,
Spain’s State Secretary of
International Cooperation, who attended the meeting with INSTRAW and the Central
American Ministers in Panama
while concluding a round of scheduled visits that included Mexico, El
Salvador and Honduras.
Participating
at the international encounter held in Panama from 25 to 26 May were the Ministers or
heads of institutes for women from the Central American region: Zoila de
Innocenti (El Salvador),
María Ester Vanegas (Nicaragua), María Roquebert León
(Panama), Jeannette Carillo
(Costa Rica), Leandra Pastora
Bonilla (Honduras) and
Patricia Espinosa Torres (Mexico).
[Photographs and videos of the
event are available to journalists upon request.]
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Press
contact:
Mr.
Laurent Duvillier (Communications Assistant)
Tel: 1
809-685-2111 ext. 227 / e-mail: lduvillier@un-instraw.org