Notwithstanding important advances in recent years, the levels of women´s political representation in Peru remain below the country´s 30% quota target.    In all, women account for 22% of  Peruvian elected officials, with great variation between levels and positions.   For instance, while women make up 26% of municipal council members, less than 3% of Peru´s mayors are women.   Approximately one of every six (18%) of Peru´s national legislators are women.

This situation is certainly not unique to Peru, as increasing women´s political representation is a challenge throughout Latin American and, indeed, in virtually every region of the world.   Multiple factors influence women´s participation in politics including: electoral system design, political party structures,  political culture, socio-economic inequities, and campaign funding.    

Within Peru, IDEA has focused on the impact of political parties and electoral systems on women´s political representation as highlighted in the following activities:

• With the support of IDEA and Transparencia, in 2003 Congress drafted and approved one of the strongest political party laws in Latin America.  IDEA ensured that the crafting and debate processes were fully informed by analyses of the situation of women in political parties.   Notably, the Law was passed with a 30% quota provision for both general election party lists and internal party leadership positions.
• Under the auspices of IDEA and local partner Asociación Civil Transparencia, representatives of political parties, Congress, electoral organizations, academia and civil society participated in a closed workshop in Lima on 20 January 2004 to analyze the recently approved political party law and its potential to promote the participation of women. In addition, participants discussed likely options for the electoral reform process in 2004. Experiences shared by delegates from Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico and the U.S. highlighted the fact that seemingly minor adjustments to an electoral system can have strong impact—positive or negative—on female representation in elected offices. At the end of the workshop, three seasoned politicians—IDEA Board Member and Popular Christian Party (PPC) President Lourdes Flores (of Peru), ex-President of the Lower House of Mexico Beatriz Paredes and ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ecuador Nina Pacari—shared their views and personal experiences in a public roundtable on “ Women and Political Leadership”.
• IDEA and Asociación Civil Transparencia presented three books on women in politics— Women, Political Parties and Electoral Reform, Women in Political Parties in Peru and Implementing Quotas: Experiences from Latin America—to some 130 representatives of political parties and civil society groups on 22 July in Lima, Peru. In addition, they released a report containing statistics on the political participation of women in Peru.
• IDEA is also working to make sure that this year’s electoral reform process takes into account gender issues. Decisions regarding district size, the placement of female candidates on party lists and campaign costs will have a decisive impact on female participation for many years to come. Throughout 2004, IDEA has supported debate and analysis through the Inter-Party Roundtable on electoral reform matters, ensuring that special attention is paid to the inclusion of women and other underrepresented groups.

Available reference documents:

• Report and papers from the 20 January workshop on “Women, Political Parties and Electoral Reform”.
• “Un vistazo a la participacion politica de las mujeres en Peru”.