Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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access to economic resources for campaigns —that is, corporate financing— because they tend to have
more numerous and powerful linkages within public affairs that give them more highly developed
networks of social capital. 13 Another important factor has to do with interpersonal trust which, as Putnam
(1993) argues, is an important element in a democratic political culture. This is based on the supposition
that trust among citizens and their active participation in social organizations are crucial to the proper
functioning of a democracy.
From this perspective, in the context of a patriarchal culture in which women are assigned
caregiving roles, these prejudices translate into distrust of women’s capacity to govern and to command.
Politics are thus construed as a male domain. This narrow construct of politics acts as a barrier to the
inclusion of other dimensions of democracy associated with different types of discrimination (ethnic or
gender discrimination, for example), which collide with traditional ways of understanding the business of
political parties.
I. WOMEN IN POWER
1. Once in parliament
What happens when women enter parliament What positions do they hold, what are their concerns, what
obstacles do they face and what are their assessments of their contribution to political life and public
welfare Where do parliamentary women come from and what is their background
The majority (78%) of women in parliament get there through their parties, often at the invitation
of a political leader. The proportion of women parliamentarians from outside party circles is lower and, in
most cases, women are courted by parties on account of their public and social standing. In circumstances
other than these, women state that it is more difficult to access positions of power within a party, be
nominated to electoral lists and enter a parliamentary position, as they tend to be excluded by a culture of
male chauvinism and fraternity (IPU, 2000).
Table I.4
THE CARIBBEAN (10 COUNTRIES): TIMELINE OF THE FIRST ELECTION OF A WOMAN TO A
POSITION IN PARLIAMENT OR ONE ITS CHAMBERS
Cuba 1940
Jamaica 1944
Guyana 1953
Trinidad and Tobago 1962
Suriname 1963
Grenada 1976
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1979
Dominica 1980
Belize 1984
Saint Kitts and Nevis 1984
Source: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report, 2006, New York, Oxford University
Press.
13
The interplay between social and political capital tends to benefit men to a greater degree than women
(Arriagada, 2003).