Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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25 Country Latest available action plan b participation as an instrument Treats political of equity Proposes establishing a quota law for elections (in countries without quota law) Proposes positive discrimination or quotas within the structure of government Explicitly treats parity as an instrument of equity Includes specific targets or deadlines for achieving parity at different levels Nicaragua a National gender equity plan (2002-2006). X X Panama Equal opportunities for women plan (2002-2006). National plan against intrafamily violence and policies on civic coexistence (2006). Paraguay Second national plan for equality of opportunities and rights (2003-2008). Peru Law and national plan on equality of opportunities for women and men (2006- 2010). X X X X X Dominican Republic National gender equity plan (2000). X X Uruguay a First national plan of equality of opportunities and rights (2007-2011). X X X X X Venezuela (Bolivarian Women’s equality plan (2004-2009). X X X Republic of ) a Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of the most recent national equality or gender equity plans published by the respective countries. No quota law applies in the legislative branch. Over the last year new governments have taken up office in the region and national women’s plans are under review. In these cases, the most recent official plan published has been taken as a reference, since the table is intended to show the evolution of government agendas. c a b In Argentina, the quota law (1991), the decree that regulates it (2000) and the plan of equal opportunities in the labour market (1998), which has force of law, have been key instruments forming the basis for policies in more specific areas, including the pension system, as well as notable progress in women’s representation in the legislative branch.
26 In many countries, a new collective subjectivity was built around gender inequalities and new political fields emerged. Actors in these fields drew attention to the systemic nature of gender inequality and identified different and sometimes contradictory forms of discrimination within the social and institutional spheres, that is, in day-to-day interactions, family life, the marketplace, politics and culture. Unlike the feminist movement in Europe and the United States, the feminist campaign in this region revolved around development, social equality and poverty. The effort to develop measures to deliberately increase women’s political representation comes in response to the slow or almost non-existent growth of their numbers in parliaments, despite improvements in women’s levels of education, their entry to the labour market and their growing membership of political parties. Thus, women’s organizations —especially groups of female politicians in cross-party alliances— are campaigning for affirmative action to counteract the formal or informal barriers preventing women’s nomination to electoral lists or appointment to designated positions. Electoral gender quotas, as initially implemented in political parties in the Nordic countries in the 1970s, were intended to guarantee a certain number of women in senior political positions and to create a “critical minority” (30% to 40%) to counteract their political isolation and channel resources, not only towards meeting women’s demands, but also into initiatives to change the way political systems worked. Quota systems may be examined from two angles: first, the source of the quota mandate (constitution, legislation, political parties) and, second, the stage of the political and electoral process at which it is enforced. Quotas can be employed at the first stage of the process (identification of would-be candidates), at an intermediate stage (candidate nomination) or the final stage (by reserving a certain percentage of seats for women). The double-quota system is one which not only calls for a certain percentage of women to participate, but also requires them to occupy positions on the electoral lists that have a good possibility of being elected. The use of quotas is a matter of considerable debate and resistance in the political system. Some of those in politics argue that quotas violate the principles of the universality of citizenship and of competition on an equal footing based on individual merit. They warn of the danger of encouraging the differentiation of new groups and the corporate representation of group interests. In relation to these arguments, however, from the point of view of political strategy electoral quotas do not imply the recognition of any fundamental interpretation of womanhood, but constitute a mechanism to counteract subordination and improve chances for real equality. Quotas are built upon the concept of affirmative action concept mentioned earlier. Affirmative action is associated with programmes to train social and political leaders and with measures to promote the formation and action of women’s organizations. In a political environment constructed around gender equity, it is possible to define gender problems and build them into governments’ institutional agendas; promote legal and constitutional reforms; expand knowledge towards the State; provide appropriate human-resources training; and support the establishment of arenas in which pro-gender-equity policies can be coordinated. The world conferences held under the auspices of the United Nations in the 1990s were highly significant and became major media events that galvanized public opinion and therefore went a long way towards disseminating and legitimizing issues, proposals and the resulting agreements. The growing involvement of NGOs in preparatory meetings for conferences, national committees and delegations, alternative forums and follow-up committees and conferences provided the feminist movement with new opportunities for political participation at the global level, as well as channels through which to influence governments. This helps to explain why the
Page 2 and 3: LC/L.2738(CRM.10/3) August 2007 The
Page 4 and 5: 1 FOREWORD The Economic Commission
Page 6 and 7: 3 INTRODUCTION The women of Latin A
Page 8: 5 essentially not on biological fac
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Page 13 and 14: 10 among development, security and
Page 15 and 16: 12 Another sphere of democratic deb
Page 17 and 18: 14 to articulate their efforts in i
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Page 35 and 36: 32 The differences between the resu
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Page 43 and 44: 40 Women’s entry to parliament ca
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Page 51 and 52: 48 Table I.6 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
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75 sex and activity (see figure II.
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77 Figure II.4 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
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79 Figure II.7 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
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81 Box II.6 HAITI. DOMESTIC WORKERS
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83 It is interesting to characteriz
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85 care to the “productive” adu
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87 Box II. 7 (concluded) To sum up,
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89 are also inaccurate, which widen
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91 Some progress has been made sinc
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93 Figure II.15 AVERAGE HOURS SPENT
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95 Country Costa Rica El Salvador G
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99 employee for family reasons. The
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101 In the private sphere, there ha
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105 Box II.12 EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL SE
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107 III. TOWARDS A RESEARCH AND POL
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109 (iii) Contribute to the mainten
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111 Appendix TECHNICAL NOTES The st
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113 Household survey information al
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115 sub-module “home maintenance
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118 _____ (2003), "Políticas para
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120 Carrasco, Cristina (2001), “H
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122 _____ (2003b), “Redes de apoy
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124 Huenchuan, Sandra and José Mig
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126 Montaño, Sonia (2007a), “Emp
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128 Rico, María Nieves (2006), “
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130 _____ (1979), Convention on the
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Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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