Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

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agencies at the highest level and establishing institutions to monitor the implementation of measures, such
as the regional observatories of women’s affairs in Peru and the Gender Observatory in Colombia.
The main challenges include the need to associate the parity campaign with the process of
vindicating and legitimizing political activity in times of democracy in a way that takes the fact into
account that women’s active political participation in public affairs is influenced by factors that consign it
to a more private sphere of activity. Another influential factor that limits women’s political participation
in elections and decision-making at all levels is the lack of a stronger State, which restricts access to
social services that would buttress women’s involvement in society. This situation is further compounded
by all the various implications of poverty.
Violence against women, in both the private and public spheres, is another major limiting factor.
In the public domain, violence is generally manifested in psychological and verbal shows of aggression
against women taking part in political processes which leads them to fear social sanctions that may
damage their family life as well as their role in other spheres of activity.
One challenge about which there was unanimous agreement by the ministers and gender
authorities participating in the virtual forums and subregional preparatory meetings for the tenth session
of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean was that of promoting the
active participation of historically excluded sectors, such as indigenous and Afrodescendent women. The
racism faced by indigenous women in institutional, structural and legal domains, as well as in daily life,
translates into a much more limited role for them than for the rest of the female population, and this issue
must be confronted. Despite this constraint, indigenous women, especially in Central America, have
clearly demonstrated the fact that they stand ready and willing to take up a role at various levels in terms
of both participation and decision-making. As an illustration of the inevitable link between parity and
democracy, it may be noted that participation by indigenous women in public affairs in Guatemala began
to come to the fore in 1986, just as the country was embarking on its transition to democracy. 21
The authorities responsible for national machineries for the advancement of women in the region
emphasized the importance of providing leadership and management training for women and of
strengthening participation at the local level in order to further the strategies being pursued to promote
women’s empowerment at all levels. They also advocated the use of communications strategies with a
view to dismantling patriarchal values in society and in political parties. 22
21
22
Report of the Presidential Women’s Secretariat (SEPREM) and the Indigenous Women’s Public Defender’s
Office (DEMI) of Guatemala as presented to the Subregional preparatory meeting for Central America and
Mexico for the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Guatemala, May 2007).
One interesting experience as regards the promotion of women’s political participation at the grass-roots level is
that of the focal points developed by the National Women’s Institute (INAMUJER) of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela. Women represent 65% of the membership of the grass-roots organizations involved in the social
works known as “missions” and of the communal councils, which are widespread throughout the country. The
legislation on communal councils treats the INAMUJER focal points as a constituent organization of the
councils. INAMUJER is now conducting training in the more than 20,000 focal points to enable them to carry
out their work from a gender perspective, identify women’s practical and strategic needs, and create projects to
help satisfy those needs.