IDEA co-hosted an event on Women’s Participation in Politics on 23 October 2003, with a panel of six Venezuelan experts and other experts from the region. Organized with the Mujeres Democrata-Cristianas de America (MUDCA), the meeting highlighted the Venezuelan and Latin American experiences on the issue of female participation in politics.

The regionalised version of the handbook, Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (Mujeres en el Parlamento. Más allá de los números) was launched at a panel discussion. Two of the authors of the handbook, Ms Elisa Carrió and Ms Lourdes Flores Nano, were speakers. Additional panelists included Ms Isabel Carmona de Serra (former MP and leader of Acción Democrática Party), Ms Flora Aranguren (former mayor and leader in the Christian Democratic Party, COPEI), Prof Adicéa Castillo (Professor at the University Central de Venezuela), Ms María Cristina Parra (Director of the Centro de Investigación Social, Formación y Estudios de la Mujer), Ms María Bernadoni de Govea (former Minister of Labour) and Ms Virginia Rivera.

Ms Carrió presented the case of Argentina and spoke of her own experiences in politics as a candidate in the presidential elections. She noted the importance of going beyond the quota provision in order to increase women’s participation in politics and explained the enduring obstacles for women in politics. Ms Flores Nano commented on the handbook and noted the publication’s combination of academic research with concrete experiences in Latin America and the world. Additional comments on the electoral system’s design were made and Ms Flores Nano also shared her personal experiences as a party militant, member of parliament and candidate for presidency in Peru. Ms Isabel Carmona de Serra spoke of the obstacles for consolidating women’s participation, in particular the lack of coordination between official bodies such as congressional women’s commissions and women’s organisations. Ms Carmona presented the Venezuelan experience with of quotas. Ms Flora Aranguren followed a similar theme and spoke of the importance for women to work together beyond party allegiances and the crucial role women had played in the political process in Venezuela. Ms Adicéa Castillo focused on social and economic obstacles for women’s participation, and Ms Virginia Rivera spoke of the need for organising women’s participation in political parties and of developing leadership on local level. María Cristina Parra commented on the achievements on gender issues and María Bernadoni de Govea pointed out the excellent contents of the handbook and highlighted the need for the gender agenda to reach men.

The panel discussion was attended by over 150 participants, including representatives from the Women’s National Forum different groups of women from all the opposition political parties and NGOs operating in Venezuela. The issue of gender is a crucial topic in Venezuela’s present political context and the panel created a forum for further discussions and comparative knowledge sharing as other country contexts from Latin America were presented.