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Campaign in Chile Fights “Disgraceful” Under-representation of Women in Power

Marianela Jarroud

SANTIAGO, Mar 7 2012 (IPS) - The More Women in Power campaign in Chile, carried out by a group of social organisations, is seeking to increase the number of women in public decision-making positions, to move towards “parity democracy”.

The organisers of More Women in Power at the launch of the campaign. Credit: Más Mujeres al Poder

The organisers of More Women in Power at the launch of the campaign. Credit: Más Mujeres al Poder

“More Women in Power was born of profound conviction, the analysis and assessment of the under-representation of women in decision-making, and, to a certain extent, some setbacks with regard to the importance given to the presence of women in power,” Teresa Valdés, a sociologist, told IPS.

Valdés, the director of the Gender and Equity Observatory, explained that the campaign responds to “a longstanding demand that has been given new momentum in the face of the obvious back-tracking by the government of (right-wing president) Sebastián Piñera in terms of equality and the outlook for the municipal elections in October.”

The campaign forms part of the activities organised by the women’s movement in Chile on the occasion of International Women’s Day, celebrated Thursday Mar. 8.

Although women in Chile won the right to vote and to be elected in municipal elections in 1934, full women’s suffrage was not achieved until 1949, and the first time women voted in national elections was in 1952.

After that over half a century passed until the first woman president was elected: Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010), who is now executive director of U.N. Women

“Chile is below the regional average with respect to women in positions of decision-making power, and it is lagging with regard to the international commitments that we have signed as a state, to increase representation,” the coordinator of the campaign, Carolina Carrera, told IPS.

The country’s statistics on women’s representation and participation “are a disgrace,” said Carrera, the president of Corporación Humanas, a centre for women’s studies and political advocacy.

Women represent just over half of Chile’s 17.5 million people, 53 percent of the electorate, and 43 percent of the workforce.

But according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in 2009 women held 14.2 percent of seats in Congress, far below the regional average of 22.4 percent.

In this respect, Chile was ahead of Colombia (12.7 percent), Paraguay (12.5) and Brazil (8.6), but it was behind Cuba (43.2), Costa Rica (38.6) and Argentina (38.5).

Nevertheless, Valdés said the campaign does not believe that the route to follow in Chile is a quota law, along the lines of legislation that brought about high levels of participation in Argentina or Costa Rica, for example.

“The quota business is old stuff,” she argued. “Given that society is made up of equal numbers of men and women, it isn’t a question of talking about quota laws, but about balanced representation in all decision-making areas.”

She acknowledged, however, that “quotas have been instrumental in moving towards more equal societies.”

Valdés said the concern is that up to 2010, Chile appeared to be the most advanced country in the region after 20 years of public policies to foment equality, which were stepped up during Bachelet’s four-year term.

“We were taken as a model in Latin America, but at the same time we are a country that has not managed to make progress in the representation of women in the political system,” she said.

For this reason, the More Women in Power campaign is calling for far-reaching reforms of the political system in Chile, which was designed in 1980 by the dictatorship of the late General Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

The campaign is demanding a new constitution; a modification of the so-called “binomial” electoral system, which favours the domination of politics by large coalitions of parties; laws to foment parity; democratic and transparent political parties where women are equally represented; and preferential public financing for women’s election campaigns.

The organisers of the campaign say this is the time to demand such changes, especially because the voter registration list will grow from eight million to 12.5 million voters in the October local elections, when a reform of the voter registry goes into effect, making registration automatic and voting itself voluntary.

Of the 4.5 million new voters, 80 percent will be under the age of 35.

But Carrera said the issue of equality has been left out of the political debate. “We haven’t seen any analysis of what impact the reforms could have on the political participation of women,” she said.

“That is why the campaign not only talks about equal representation, but also about a new constitution, because we don’t only want equal representation in terms of numbers, but also laws that promote equality,” Carrera said.

“The political reforms that lie ahead must not fail to take into account the differential effects that they will have on the incorporation of men and women in politics. We believe that the country must break with the machista logic of seeing the public domain as men’s territory.”

Valdés noted that when Bachelet took office in 2006, “numerical parity” was achieved in the cabinet, with women heading up 50 percent of the ministries, while relative parity was maintained until 2010 (40 to 60 percent).

“But in the current government, only 18 percent of those posts are held by women,” she said.

Carrera emphasised the advances made by the administration of Bachelet – a socialist who was tortured and exiled during the dictatorship – who was criticised by some for her “feminine” form of governing, which avoided strong-arm tactics.

“The most symbolic advance was that the presence of a woman in power gave boys and girls in the country the idea that a woman could become president,” she said.

There are currently four women leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean: Presidents Cristina Fernández in Argentina, Dilma Rousseff in Brazil and Laura Chinchilla in Costa Rica, and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Trinidad and Tobago.

Valdés says this was the result of the struggle waged by women throughout the 20th century.

“At the beginning of the last century, women were not even citizens,” she said, pointing out that since the start of the 21st century, five women have been heads of state or government in the region, including Bachelet.

“They are all incredible women, who have been involved in the struggle for years,” Valdés said.

The fight to increase women’s representation and participation will continue, as it has for decades, she added. “Perhaps it will be other women leaders carrying the banners, but the struggle will carry on until we achieve the parity in democracy that we so badly need.”

 
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