WUNRN
Guatemala - Women's Increased Political Presence but Rights Challenges
Danilo Valladares
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GUATEMALA
CITY, Sept 9, 2011 (IPS) - "Women have more opportunities nowadays to
participate in the economic, social and political development of the country,
but this has still not improved the quality of their lives," said Laura
Reyes, one of the three women candidates for vice president of Guatemala.
"Many
women have done a good job, but others have taken advantage of power to serve
their own personal interests," Reyes, a lawyer belonging to the Cakchiquel
Maya indigenous group, told IPS ahead of Sunday's general elections.
An
unprecedented number of women are standing in the elections. Three women are running for
president, and three more for the vice presidency, out of a total of 10
presidential and vice presidential tickets. In contrast, in 2003 there was only
one woman vice presidential candidate.
Women's
votes will also be vitally important, because 52 percent of those registered to
vote this year are women, whereas in 2003 they were 44 percent, according to
official records.
But in spite
of women's increased presence in politics, fundamental changes have still not
taken place in women's way of life, experts told IPS. They concurred that one
major shortcoming in Guatemalan democracy is the absence of a gender
perspective.
Guatemala's
elections are taking place just as Latin American women's organisations are
debating how to make democracies more gender-inclusive, on the occasion of the
United Nations International Day of Democracy, Thursday Sept. 15.
"At age
seven, only 54 percent of Maya girls are in school, compared with 71 percent of
Maya boys and 75 percent of Ladina (mixed descent) girls," says a study
carried out in Guatemala in 2007 by the U.S.-based Population Council.
According to
official figures, 40 percent of Guatemala's 14 million people are indigenous,
although NGOs like Refugees International or the United Nations refugee agency
put the proportion much higher.
Seventy-three
percent of working women are employed in the informal sector, where labour
rights are precarious, according to the Third Report on Labour Markets in
Central America and the Dominican Republic, by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Central American Integration System.
This country
is also one of the most dangerous for women in the Americas. From 2000 to 2010,
according to police records, there were more than 5,200 femicides
(gender-related murders of women) in Guatemala.
That is why
vice presidential candidate Reyes wants urgent action to support women,
including credit and training that are "extremely necessary" for
overcoming discrimination against women's development.
Dora Amalia
Taracena, of Convergencia Cívico Política de
Mujeres (CONVERGEMUJER), a women's civil and political coalition,
questioned whether Guatemala really has "true democracy," because
"if everyone is to be equal, women's participation must be raised to the
level of men's."
Taracena
pointed out that there is currently not a single woman cabinet minister, while
there are only 19 women lawmakers out of 158. And just one of the 13 Supreme
Court justices is a woman.
"We
have been making proposals since 1992 for a quota law (for women candidates),
and now we are seeking equal numbers of women candidates occupying alternate
positions (with men) on the lists for elected posts. But none of these
proposals have been adopted because the 'machista', patriarchal model of
society persists," she told IPS.
In Central
America, only Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama have established a quota system
to promote women's political participation. El Salvador, and Nicaragua where
general elections will be held Nov. 6, have no quota laws.
Taracena
doubts that the unusually large number of women candidates in these elections
will translate into a greater presence of women in positions of power.
"Many women are standing for president, vice president and mayor's
offices, but how many are likely to be elected?" she asked.
Furthermore,
if a woman is elected there is no guarantee that she will fight for women's
issues, the expert said. "A candidate's platform or programme is one
thing, but what she actually does in office is quite another," she said.
Taracena
emphasised that when women in government positions do achieve positive results,
they are treated differently than men, as happened to Sandra Torres, the
ex-wife of social democratic President Álvaro Colom.
Torres, who
formerly ran the government's social programmes, including "Mi familia
progresa" (My Family Is Making Progress) which provides poor families with
a monthly stipend of 39 dollars on condition their children attend school and
keep up-to-date with medical check-ups, was harshly criticised by the
opposition for allegedly using the plan as a clientelist mechanism and for an
alleged lack of transparency.
"I'm
sure that a man in her position would have been praised to the skies, since
thanks to these programmes many families now have enough to eat," in a
country where half the population lives in poverty, Taracena said.
Torres and
Colom divorced in April so that she could stand as a presidential candidate in
the elections. But the Supreme Court ruled her ineligible on the grounds that
the divorce was a ploy to evade the constitutional ban against family members
of a sitting president running for the country's top job.
Ileana
Alamilla of the "Más mujeres mejor política" (More Women, Better
Politics) group told IPS: "It's a good thing for more women to take part
in politics, but many of the candidates have not been empowered through
involvement in women's struggles, and others have no real chance of getting
elected."
According to
a study by the group, there are 71 women standing for 31 national seats in
Congress, but only 18 are placed high enough on candidate lists to actually
stand a chance of being elected. A similar situation applies to the provincial
constituencies, which elect the remaining lawmakers.
Alamilla
stressed that women lawmakers in the present legislature have achieved a great
deal. In the last four years Congress has passed 10 laws that address women's
rights, including a law against femicide and one on safe motherhood.
Martha
Sicán, the mayor of San Juan Sacatepéquez, a city of over 200,000 people
located 31 kilometres from Guatemala City, told IPS that doors to political
participation are opening because "people have seen that women work
responsibly and honestly."
"They
say women shouldn't do this; since they do not make the decisions at home, they
should not make them in the municipality. But we have worked honestly and
transparently and people have noticed that," she said.
The mayor,
who is seeking re-election, created a municipal women's office and has promoted
programmes for training women in productive activities and for addressing
violence against women. She gives public financial reports twice a year.
"Perceptions
about women have changed a lot, and in two further electoral terms, women's
participation will be more equal," with real weight for women in
Guatemala's democracy and development, Sicán concluded.