In the IPU’s international ranking of women’s political participation in parliaments, Colombia shares 111th place with the Republic of Congo and Armenia. It is the lowest-ranking Latin American country in that survey. Against this backdrop, the UNDP-International IDEA project in Colombia has for some years been working to increase women’s political representation and inclusion. This year training was offered to 50 female congressional candidates; and training was also provided to nearly 400 women from different parties running for local office in 77 municipalities and 20 departments across the country.
When it comes to the inclusion and representation of women, the continent’s oldest democracy still faces major challenges. Although women make up 52 per cent of the population and 52 per cent of the voters who actually go to the polls, only 14 percent of council members, 17 per cent of deputies, 9 per cent of mayors and 12 per cent of congressional representatives are women. In this decade’s two congressional elections (2002 and 2006), in 17 of the country’s 32 departments, no women were elected to the Chamber of Representatives, and 11 departments currently have no female deputies.
Training for women politicians in Cundinamarca, November 2009.
In November 2009, UNDP-International IDEA also released the Manual for Gender Mainstreaming in Political Reporting (Manual de reportería política con enfoque de género), which provides updated data about women’s participation in national public life and proposes eight areas for the media to follow in its political reporting to raise awareness about the issue. The manual was discussed at a seminar attended by 40 women Congressional candidates, as well as by the National Network of Political Editors, which also held a workshop promoted by the project.
These efforts by the UNDP and International IDEA partnership were reinforced through the International Cooperation Gender Round Table in Colombia, which brought together nine UN organizations and bilateral cooperation agencies to address the problem of women’s political representation.
In June 2009, Colombia approved constitutional reforms, enshrining gender equality as one of the five principles underpinning the organization and functioning of Colombian political parties. In the most recent legislative session, however, debate over enabling legislation only resulted in a preliminary agreement on a 20 per cent quota for women on parties’ candidate lists in every region, except for areas with fewer than four seats (which means in 17 of the 32 departments). Despite indications of political will, parties are still reluctant to take the necessary steps to ensure equal participation for women.
The congressional elections in March 2010 will show the extent to which commitments made by political parties in this area translate into women’s candidacies.
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