Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

More documents

Recommendations

Info

31 with the situation in Costa Rica: although it is in the same region, female candidates there represent around 40% of the total thanks to the use of quotas. With the exception of Dominican Republic and Haiti, none of the Caribbean islands have approved the use of quota laws. They have all, however, adhered to the principle established in the Santiago Consensus (1997) and by the Commonwealth Ministers Responsible for Women’s Affairs that that 30% of posts should go to women. In 2004, the Commonwealth Ministers restated their commitment to work to achieve the minimum target of 30% representation in political and corporate decision-making by 2015. In its programme for 2003-2008, the Department of Women’s Affairs of Belize made a commitment to work to achieve a quota of 30% and some of the region’s NGOs have joined the campaign of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) aimed at increasing the target to 50% (Bart-Alexander, 2007). Quota laws have had positive effects in all the countries that have adopted them, as female representation has increased, especially in the lower chambers and single chambers. Argentina and Costa Rica stand out with women representing 35% and 38.6%, respectively, of seats in the legislature (see figure I.1). Cuba, with 36%, constitutes an exception since its political system is different. These three figure amongst the 10 countries in the world with the highest numbers of women in parliament, together with Rwanda (34%), Sweden (47%) and Finland (42%). In the Bahamas more than 30% of upper chamber seats are held by women. However, in most countries female representation remains below the percentage stipulated in the law. Figure I.1 LATIN AMERICA (10 COUNTRIES): RESULTS OF THE QUOTA SYSTEM (Percentages) 40 40 35 35 30 30 25 25 20 20 15 15 10 10 5 5 0 0 Paraguay Brazil Bolivia Mexico Dominican Republic Argentina Bolivia Mexico Paraguay Argentina Panama Ecuador Peru Costa Rica Lower chamber Upper chamber Single chamber After quota law Before quota law Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments” [online] http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world-arc.htm [date of reference: 30 April 2007].
32 The differences between the results prior to quota laws and the latest election results are even larger, especially in Argentina, where representation increased from 6% to 36.2%; Costa Rica (from 15.8% to 38.6%); Honduras (from 5.5% to 23.4%); Peru (from 10.8% to 29.2%); Mexico (from 8.8% to 22.4% in the lower chamber); and Ecuador (from 3.7% to 16%) (see figure I.2). Figure I.2 LATIN AMERICA (11 COUNTRIES): DIFFERENCES IN FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT (LOWER OR SINGLE CHAMBER) BETWEEN THE ELECTIONS PRIOR TO QUOTA LAWS AND THE MOST RECENT ELECTIONS (Percentage points) 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Brazil Dominican Republic Bolivia Paraguay Panama Mexico Ecuador Honduras Peru Costa Rica Argentina Before the quota law 6.6 16.1 11.5 2.5 9.7 8.8 3.7 5.5 10.8 17.3 6 After the quota law 8.6 19.7 16.9 8.8 16.7 22.4 16 23.4 29.2 38.6 36.2 Before the quota law After the quota law Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of Inter-Parliamentary Union, “Women in National Parliaments” [online] http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world-arc.htm [date of reference: 16 August 2006]. Countries in which female representation exceeded 30% in the most recent elections, especially Argentina, Costa Rica and Peru, display a systematic, upward trend in such representation. Figure I.3 shows that the countries in which women achieved less than 20% of seats in the last election show a less rapid and more unstable pattern of growth. Lastly, women’s representation shows no significant growth in Brazil or Paraguay. Women are capable of forming a critical mass that reinforces the achievements made and provides a platform for advancing towards parity. In Argentina, Costa Rica and Peru, the three countries that met the target, this achievement was aided by broad cross-party alliances, intensive work within the parties, support for women’s advancement mechanisms, the decisive leadership of the women’s movement and democratic conditions that allowed the adoption of quota laws as a means of moving towards equality.
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
Page 11 and 12: 8 Convention, but the process has b
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
Page 19 and 20: 16 boundaries between human, reprod
Page 21 and 22: 18 relatively less powerful, new gl
Page 23 and 24: 20 universalist school’s argument
Page 25 and 26: 22 democratic movements, gradually
Page 27 and 28: 24 Table I.2 LATIN AMERICA (20 COUN
Page 29 and 30: 26 In many countries, a new collect
Page 31 and 32: 28 In Costa Rica the quota issue be
Page 33: 30 Table I.3 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 37 and 38: 34 Figure I.4 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 39 and 40: 36 Figure I.6 CARIBBEAN (11 COUNTRI
Page 41 and 42: 38 Figure I.9 CARIBBEAN (9 COUNTRIE
Page 43 and 44: 40 Women’s entry to parliament ca
Page 45 and 46: 42 Figure I.10 LATIN AMERICA AND TH
Page 47 and 48: 44 Figure I.12 THE CARIBBEAN (10 CO
Page 49 and 50: 46 Figure I.14 LATIN AMERICA (15 CO
Page 51 and 52: 48 Table I.6 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 53 and 54: 50 was from 9% to 1.3%, Jamaica (fr
Page 55 and 56: 52 agencies at the highest level an
Page 58 and 59: 55 II. WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO TH
Page 60 and 61: 57 more concerned with the ethic of
Page 62 and 63: 59 Box II.1 THE WORK OF CARE IN SOC
Page 64 and 65: 61 of care on women mounts up. This
Page 66 and 67: 63 conditions of employment of work
Page 68 and 69: 65 social security and social benef
Page 70 and 71: 67 disincentive to their recruitmen
Page 72 and 73: 69 seeks to reform the constitution
Page 74 and 75: 71 Box II.4 REGULATION OF EMPLOYMEN
Page 76 and 77: 73 those in rural areas (42.1%), wh
Page 78 and 79: 75 sex and activity (see figure II.
Page 80 and 81: 77 Figure II.4 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
Page 82 and 83: 79 Figure II.7 LATIN AMERICA (SIMPL
Page 84 and 85:
81 Box II.6 HAITI. DOMESTIC WORKERS
Page 86 and 87:
83 It is interesting to characteriz
Page 88 and 89:
85 care to the “productive” adu
Page 90 and 91:
87 Box II. 7 (concluded) To sum up,
Page 92 and 93:
89 are also inaccurate, which widen
Page 94 and 95:
91 Some progress has been made sinc
Page 96 and 97:
93 Figure II.15 AVERAGE HOURS SPENT
Page 98 and 99:
95 Country Costa Rica El Salvador G
Page 100 and 101:
97 domestic life is shared between
Page 102 and 103:
99 employee for family reasons. The
Page 104 and 105:
101 In the private sphere, there ha
Page 106 and 107:
103 Table II.4 SEVEN SELECTED CITIE
Page 108 and 109:
105 Box II.12 EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL SE
Page 110 and 111:
107 III. TOWARDS A RESEARCH AND POL
Page 112 and 113:
109 (iii) Contribute to the mainten
Page 114 and 115:
111 Appendix TECHNICAL NOTES The st
Page 116 and 117:
113 Household survey information al
Page 118 and 119:
115 sub-module “home maintenance
Page 120 and 121:
118 _____ (2003), "Políticas para
Page 122 and 123:
120 Carrasco, Cristina (2001), “H
Page 124 and 125:
122 _____ (2003b), “Redes de apoy
Page 126 and 127:
124 Huenchuan, Sandra and José Mig
Page 128 and 129:
126 Montaño, Sonia (2007a), “Emp
Page 130 and 131:
128 Rico, María Nieves (2006), “
Page 132:
130 _____ (1979), Convention on the
show all

Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?