The
search for sanctions to penalize non-compliance with quota laws, the
promotion of a greater participation of indigenous peoples, afro-descendants
and young persons, and the impulse given to Women’s Ministries and to
gender-sensitive budgets were the most important lines of action identified
by the participants in the Virtual Forum of Gender Specialists.
[Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic – 20 May 2009] The Virtual Forum was organized by
the United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) and the Regional Training Programme on
Gender and Public Policies (PRIGEPP) of FLACSO, Argentina. During the forum,
more than 40 women academics, politicians and civil society representatives
from several countries in Latin America discussed the current situation of
women’s political participation in the region.
The experts indicated that it is time to focus on the search for a means to
achieve compliance with quota laws. According to the report, although
quotas have succeeded in increasing women’s political participation in Latin
America, they are not being enforced in most of the countries of the
region. The main reason behind this is insufficient political will to
reduce existing asymmetries. The discretional interpretation or the
adulteration of electoral systems, the tampering with names in order to evade
quota laws and the verbal and physical political violence against women
political candidates, amongst other practices, clearly prove this lack of
will. According to Susana Ghilardi, an Argentinean politician and municipal
advisor who participated in the forum, “men look for schemes in order not to
comply with the quota law, including placing women in substitute positions or
yielding those places to wives or relatives to guarantee an unconditional
support in decision-making arenas.”
According to figures found in the study “30 Years of Democracy” by IDEA
International, women occupy 7.4 percent of the municipalities in the region,
reflecting an enormous lack of equilibrium in the distribution of power in
the region. In view of this grave situation, the participants in the forum
proposed joining efforts amongst feminists and women members of political
parties to foment penalization for non-compliance with policies, laws,
projects and agreements aimed at promoting gender equality, such as the quota
laws. To guarantee that these measures are fulfilled, it will be necessary to
resort to economic sanctions, rendering mechanisms, international supervision
and widening legal frameworks, amongst others.
Experts concluded that in spite of the advances that have been achieved,
women’s participation in politics has not transformed all the traditional
forms of making politics.
“Women’s greater presence in spaces of power does not assure the defense of
gender interests. Women’s command of responsibilities as presidents and
ministers in some of our countries does not necessarily modify patriarchal
patterns,” stated Alejandra Boschetti, participant at the forum, historian,
researcher and gender specialist from Argentina.
According to the report, the unbalanced distribution of power and the use of
favours and violence are common practices of patriarchal politics which are
accepted as if they were something natural. The report also points out that
“many women give up before they even enter politics, while those who do enter
frequently accept the rules of the game as imposed by the political
leadership, which generally corresponds to a patriarchal nature.”
While some of the women who achieve power positions are feminists and favor a
gender agenda (for which reason they are frequently repelled) others “are
ignorant of that agenda and they reproduce the world in which they work and
develop,” declared María Esther Mogollón, participant in the forum, journalist
and parliamentary advisor in Peru. These differences generate tensions
amongst women politicians and feminists. To confront this situation,
participants in the forum proposed the creation of forums for dialogue and
articulation amongst feminist representatives, women members of parliament,
officials and women politicians in general.
The rights of indigenous women, afro-descendants and young people are
respected less than those of other women, to the extent that they have less
opportunity to participate and are more exposed to political violence.
In the case of indigenous women, communal justice and community conflict
resolution have sometimes been used as tools to prevent women’s access to the
political arena. Even if the inclusion of indigenous women’s rights in
the constitutions of Ecuador and Bolivia reflects an important advance, there
is still much to be done to facilitate the political participation of this
group.
During the last ten years, most countries have included in their government
structure, offices, secretariats or Women’s Ministries in charge of promoting
policies and actions in favor of equality. According to the analysis of these
experts, these mechanisms have not been successful in generating significant
results since they are disjointed amongst themselves. To confront this
problematic, the experts recommend the establishment of alliances
between Women’s Ministries and the offices in charge of generating
information in order to promote the formulation of comparable, constant and
consistent data, as well as indicators that will allow for the evaluation of
women’s advancement in politics. It is necessary to identify key stakeholders
to develop gender-sensitive budgets since experience has proven that their
approval is a matter of political will.
For more information on the report, please contact Martha
Barriga This e-mail
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