Women legislators from Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay met on 4-5 June 2007 in Lima, Peru, to share their experiences as legislators and to join forces in their political endeavors.
The international seminar “Inter-Party Consensus Building by Parliamentary Women: Experiences and Common Challenges,” built on the experience of forming cross-party women's caucuses.
The seminar encouraged synergy between the various parliamentary women’s groups in the Andean countries and stimulated dialogue on possible legislative initiatives that would benefit women in the region.
In 1996 the Union of Parliamentary Women of Bolivia (UMPABOL) became the first such group in the Andean Region. It was followed in 2000 by Uruguay and, more recently, by women’s caucuses in the Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadorian legislatures.
From the left: Dolores Padilla, President of the Forum of Ecuadoran Parliamentary Women, Marisol Aban, Second Secretary of UMPABOL, Gloria Benitez, a member of Uruguay's lower house of Congress and Niki Johnson from the University of the Republica in Uruguay.
The seminar was opened by International IDEA Director of Operations Andrew Ellis and Peruvian Congress President Mercedes Cabanillas. Ellis also discussed electoral reform and women’s political representation.
Marisol Aban, Second Secretary of UMPABOL; Gloria Benitez, a member of Uruguay’s lower house of Congress and of the Congressional Women’s Caucus; and Dolores Padilla, president of the Forum of Ecuadorian Parliamentary Women held a round-table discussion about Bolivia’s experiences of inter-party consensus building among women legislators. The same topic was taken up by Congresswoman Rosario Sasieta, president of the Peruvian Parliamentary Women’s Group, Colombian Sen. Gloria Inés Ramírez, a member of the Coordinating Committee of her country’s Women’s Caucus, and Congresswoman Karla Rubilar of Chile.
Peruvian gender expert Violeta Bermúdez later discussed the broader gender agenda in Latin America’s legislatures.
The seminar participants also had the opportunity to learn from experiences outside the region, including material provided by the iKNOW Politics International Women’s Network. Norwegian Congresswoman, Marit Nybakk, discussed gender equity in political parties.
Delia Ferreira, an international expert on political financing, and Susan Markham, of the US Political Action Committee Emily’s List, discussed political financing and gender.
The recent emergence of cross party women’s legislative caucuses provides great potential for improving the power and influence of women parliamentarians. International IDEA’s Senior Programme Officer for the Andean Region, Kristen Sample, commented that the organization has many years of experience in supporting women’s political participation, “particularly in terms of looking at ways that more women can enter political office”.
“At the same time”, she said, “ we recognize that the challenges for women politicians do not end on election day. Far from it. Thus, we are also committed to supporting the effectiveness of women once they are in office. There may be many ways to do this, but we believe that the adage ‘strength in numbers’ applies even in parliaments”.
International IDEA believes that women are more effective when they are able to organize across parties and promote change — be it new legislation or more equitable internal parliamentary practices — based on common ground.
