Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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41 Women parliamentarians report that that they are encouraged to take part in commissions concerned with social problems, but they are less involved in those considered more substantive. They describe an ongoing culture that excludes them from informal settings for discussion and decision-making. Women complain of being the subject of jokes, and of the jealousy of some male politicians, who find it difficult to accept women’s political ambitions. They also state that the explicit and implicit operating rules do not allow for the demands on women to reconcile parliamentary activities with their private lives (IPU, 2000; Iturbe de Blanco, 2003; Hardy, 2005a; Guzmán, 2007). Research conducted in Chile (Hardy, 2005a) shows that most women in politics have a high level of self-esteem and state that their presence makes a difference for the better in legislative work, as it transforms agenda priorities (78%), internal culture (79%) and rules and regulations (74%). Female parliamentarians declare themselves more concerned with social and ethical matters (such as poverty, human rights, social justice and the environment) and state that they also face issues of corruption and falling standards in politics. Lastly, they consider their presence indispensable in tackling problems such as violence against women, the recognition of new rights and reconciling reproductive and productive work (IPU, 2000). Their minority position and their good opinion of their own performance lead 80% to favour affirmative action policies and quotas (of between 30% and 50%), as well as the promotion of crosscutting partnerships to form the basis of legislative gender commissions (Guzmán, 2003). As for the electoral system, women are in favour of a limit on campaign spending and advocate the creation of funds to enable women to compete on a more equal footing. 2. From a symbolic presence to parity In 1999, women were a minority in the ministerial cabinets around the world and any female ministers were found mainly in social portfolios. By then, no ministry was formally closed to them, however (IPU, 2000). In 2006, there was an increase in the number of women in ministerial posts or running for president and other positions of national leadership, and this generated an impact on subjectivity with respect to the feminization of power. The figures speak of a slow and volatile process that is still far from arriving at any sort of consolidation.
42 Figure I.10 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: FEMALE MINISTERS IN THE LAST THREE PRESIDENTIAL TERMS, SIMPLE AVERAGES (Percentages) 30 28 26 24 30 28 26 24 27 22 20 19.9 19.5 22 20 18 18 16 14 16.7 16 14 12.8 16.3 12 12 10 I II III 10 I II III Caribbean (10 countries) Latin America (15 countries) Source: Economic Commission for Lac (ECLAC), on the basis of responses to the questionnaire on unpaid work and political participation sent to the countries on 15 September 2006. In Latin America, the percentage of female ministers has followed an upward trend. The increase in the last three presidential periods has been from 12.8% in the first to 16.3% in the second and 27% in the most recent. 14 In the Caribbean countries, the percentage increased between the first and second periods then stalled at around 19%. In Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru in Latin America, and in Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Martin and Suriname in the Caribbean, the number of female ministers has tended to increase more or less steadily. In Brazil, Ecuador, Honduras and Uruguay, and in the Bahamas and Grenada, the figures have improved only in the most recent period. In Argentina, El Salvador and Panama, the number of female ministers has declined in the most recent period, as it has in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands and Haiti. In Cuba, the most recent figures indicate that 25.9% of government ministers and 21.5% of all deputy ministers are women. 14 The third period is in course in most of the countries. The information shown includes the period up to the reception of the questionnaires sent by ECLAC on 15 September 2006.
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 and 34: 30 Table I.3 LATIN AMERICA AND THE
Page 35 and 36: 32 The differences between the resu
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: 40 Women’s entry to parliament ca
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
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Page 62 and 63: 59 Box II.1 THE WORK OF CARE IN SOC
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Page 84 and 85: 81 Box II.6 HAITI. DOMESTIC WORKERS
Page 86 and 87: 83 It is interesting to characteriz
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Page 90 and 91: 87 Box II. 7 (concluded) To sum up,
Page 92 and 93: 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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97 domestic life is shared between
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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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103 Table II.4 SEVEN SELECTED CITIE
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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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