2009 marked the 30th anniversary of the third wave of democratization in Latin America. Although the overall trend over the last three decades has been towards more democracy, the ongoing challenge is to ensure the full participation and equitable inclusion of all sectors of society.
Recognizing that democracy is a work in progress, International IDEA has published a report on women’s political participation in Latin America that assesses the current situation, identifies the gaps and challenges and makes recommendations. International IDEA's work in Latin America is based on the findings in the document and seeks to address some of the key issues that limit gender equality in political participation in the following areas: electoral reform, political parties and women in Parliament.
At the regional level, several investigations, publications and seminars have been held to address these obstacles. At the national level, work on gender has concentrated on countries where International IDEA has offices (Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru), though various activities have also been carried out in other countries, such as Argentina, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. Apart from this work specific to gender, all of International IDEA's programmes contain a gender perspective and the Institute supports initiatives to give women politicians comparative resources and information designed to promote their participation.
Gender and electoral systems
While electoral reform issues - such as the design of candidate lists - appear to be technical, they actually have political implications.
“The design of an electoral system is not gender neutral. It does have an impact on women’s political participation,” says Kristen Sample, International IDEA Head of Mission for the Andean Region.
Requiring that parties include a certain percentage of women on their candidate slates is one way of increasing the number of women in Parliament, but such quotas alone are not sufficient. The placement of the women’s names on the lists and the size of the district are also factors. If a district has only one representative, parties are more likely to opt for a male candidate.
International IDEA has published studies of quota systems and other factors that increase women’s participation and is working to ensure that women politicians, women’s organizations and civil society more generally are aware of and involved in electoral reform debates. This involves analyzing the impact of electoral systems on women’s political participation, evaluating what works best in designing quota systems, and stressing other aspects of the electoral system, such as voting and ballot distribution, as well as promoting debate, discussion and the sharing of experiences. International IDEA has translated the book, Designing for Equality into Spanish to make it accessible in countries where this issue is on the political agenda and has also co-published with FLACSO-Chile the book Mujer y Política. El impacto de las cuotas de genero en América Latina (Women and Politics. The impact of gender quotas in Latin America).
Ecuador is one of the most advanced countries in Latin America in terms of electoral legislation with a gender perspective. Ecuador has written both gender parity and alternation (in list position) into the Constitution for general elections, in candidate lists, political party executive committees and electoral bodies. These advances in women's political participation have resulted in greater attention to gender equality in public policies. Of particular note is Ecuador´s Parliamentary Group for Human Rights which has an agenda for gender-sensitive legislation, and the Multiparty Women's Group, which has an agenda to insert gender perspective in political organizations. International IDEA has assisted and supported this process through its programme Agora Democrática (IDEA-NIMD).
In Bolivia, IDEA has similarly collaborated in debate and analysis aimed at ensuring that the constitutional mandate is translated into gender-sensitive legislation. IDEA currently works with the Women’s Coordinator (Coordinadora de la Mujer) on proposals for the Plurinational Legislative Assembly to grant full rights to women. A package of laws, decrees and resolutions have been identified relating to eight principal issues: health, education, violence, social control, lands, economy and work.
In Peru, in 2009 and 2010, assistance was provided to the Ombudsman’s Office to streamline mechanisms for monitoring compliance with the electoral quota during elections. Training sessions were held for Ombudsman’s Office commissioners from throughout the country.
At the regional level, IDEA is also collaborating with the Organization of American States (OAS) on the development of a gender-sensitive methodology for election observation to be implemented in future OAS missions.
Gender and media
In Latin American, women who have run for office have complained about unfair media coverage. A multi-country study sponsored by International IDEA and UN Women is taking a closer look at the problem by gathering data and promoting debate that can be used to help improve election coverage. The “Media Monitoring with a Gender Approach” project began in consultation with five national electoral observation organizations and resulted in the publication: Election Coverage from a Gender Perspective: Media Monitoring Manual. In 2009-10, monitors recorded information about coverage of female candidates in elections in Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Colombia, with new monitoring processes slated for upcoming elections in Peru, Argentina, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Results from the 2009-10 election monitoring experiences will be published in 2011.
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 in Colombia and proposes areas for the media to follow in its political reporting to raise awareness about the issue. 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.
Gender and political parties
In most countries, women are only elected to the legislature if they run on a political party’s ticket. “Therefore real change is only going to happen if women in political parties organize and demand more opportunities,” Sample says. “Political parties are key because they determine who gets on the candidate list.” It is necessary to work on incorporating women in executive committees, reformulating time management during office terms (among both men and women), equal funding, mechanisms to select candidates that ensure equality and democracy within the party, training opportunities for women and inserting a gender perspective in political training and party debate.
In 2008, International IDEA published a
Manual on best practices used by political parties in Latin America to promote gender equality in their organizations. The project involves political parties in 18 countries, and will result in country studies, a regional report, a database and activities to disseminate the information.
The manual’s qualitative approach is complemented by an ongoing project of IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). With the support of a network of national consultants, IDEA and the IDB have gathered information from 90 political parties on key indicators for gender progress in political parties. This information and analysis was published in Spanish as Partidos y paridad: La ecuación pendiente and are available in the database Genero y partidos politicos en America Latina.
In Peru, IDEA has provided technical assistance to political parties in order to improve their internal rules and practices to promote gender equality. IDEA has also promoted the formation of a Women’s Roundtable, which has helped empower women leaders in political parties.
Training is also a key part of IDEA´s work with workshops carried out for women party members and candidates in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia to help them exercise greater leadership within their parties and wage more effective electoral campaigns.
Gender and Parliaments
Women who have won seats in Parliament often need training and ongoing support. In response to this need, female legislators have established multi-partisan women’s caucuses in eight countries in the Region.
In 2010, International IDEA and the National Democratic Institute published a study on experiences of gender commissions and caucuses:
One Size Does Not Fit All: Lessons Learned from Legislative Commissions and Caucuses.
Complementing this work on inter-party gender coalitions, International IDEA is conducting a study with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) that looks at mechanisms for promoting gender mainstreaming in national parliaments. The study - which draws on questionnaires, interviews and five national case studies-- will be published in 2011.
In Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, IDEA has supported the creation and subsequent strengthening of parliamentary gender caucuses.
