To help level the playing field for women planning to run for the Peruvian Congress in the 2006 general election, IDEA — along with the International Republican Institute and the Asociación Civil Transparencia — held five workshops throughout the country in October to help potential candidates network and build campaigning skills.
“Women face greater barriers to participation and gaining electoral office than men”, said IDEA Andean Regional Director Kristen Sample. “We thought it was important to give them information about how to campaign, mobilize resources and engage the media”.
In Peru, political parties are less likely to include women on their candidate lists and provide them with the necessary experience, profile and funding access. These challenges are reinforced by women’s “newcomer” status in politics. To prepare the women for office, the workshops describe how Congress functions and discuss the legislature’s gender agenda.
Quotas
Although Peru has a quota law, only 22 of the 120 congressional seats are held by women. The Lima electoral district has the highest percentage of female representation: 11 of the 35 legislators are women. Of the other 23 districts, however, 15 have no congresswomen at all. The workshops therefore target provinces outside the capital district. The first workshop, held in the northern city of Piura, drew 39 women from 10 political parties. Most of the women hold district council seats or positions of responsibility in their parties. The other workshops were held in Iquitos, Lima, Arequipa and Cajamarca.
Arming women with campaigning tools will not necessarily change their parties’ behavior. For that reason, the workshops complement IDEA and Asociacion Civil Transparencia’s efforts on developing bylaws to increase equal access and participation for women within political parties.
IDEA is also working with Transparencia and the Manuela Ramos and Flora Tristán women’s centers to develop a multi-party network of women to build consensus on a gender agenda. And, research is underway to analyze the elements of the electoral system that have an impact on women’s chances of being elected to public office.
Contact: Kristen Sample, IDEA Andean regional director
Participants in the workshop on campaigning skills that was held in Piura, Peru, October 2005.
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