WOMEN-ARGENTINA: Discrimination Increases Further up the Ladder

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Sep 30 1998 (IPS) - Almost half the Argentine civil service are women, but at executive level the figure falls to 28 percent, with a mere 17 making it into the highest levels.

So says the 1998 report from the National Institute of Public Administration, a publication which concentrates specifically on the situation of women in the public sector.

The document concludes that while 48 percent of all public employees are women, most are in middle-ranking levels, even those with professional qualifications.

And the commonly used argument that they are less well prepared for posts of greater responsibility is countered by the report itself, which delves into the educational level of civil servants, concluding that even with the same training background, men tend to occupy more important posts.

This report forms part of a series of investigations into various areas of administration demanded by the National Women’s Council, and the InterAmerican Development Bank provided backing to find out specifically how many and which posts are held by women, and how they are encouraged to move ahead in their careers.

This month, an event considered “normal” by workers in Argentina’s Foreign Ministry unleashed a controversy exposing how the “glass ceiling” which prevents women from advancing is being attacked in unsuspected areas.

“The lack of consciousness on gender issues amongst diplomats is alarming,” Teresa Gonzalez, undersecretary for women’s affairs, told IPS.

Gonzalez was appointed this year, as the women’s studies area was established within the foreign ministry.

“We want to become a vehicle to move information on international gender issues into the country, and also receive information on the situation of Argentine women and to make this known abroad,” she said.

The crisis this month arose when Argentina’s ambassador in Peru, the writer Abel Posse – the 1992 winner of the Romulo Gallegos prize for his novel “Los perros del paraiso” – sent a written message asking for the post of administrative attache in the embassy in Lima to be filled by a man, not a woman.

“A priority aspect is that the post be covered by an employee of the male sex,” wrote Posse, due to the “nature of the task to be undertaken.”

The postholder would have to manage: early morning trips to the airport, transactions in Lima – a city he classed as insecure and with a tough traffic situation – the need to use their personal vehicle and to be present at the residence in early morning hours.

“It would be a serious error to send a postholder who, because of their obvious limitations, would not be useful to us in these tasks,” he continued.

Posse’s request alarmed secretary of consular affairs, Alicia Martinez Rios, with its “marked misogyny,” and was also seriously criticised by undersecretary of human rights, Maria Matilde Lorenzo and director of consular affairs, Elsa Kelly.

The Foreign Ministry ranks as one of the most conservative in appointing women or encouraging them to move up: only 19.4 percent of its 909 employees are women.

Amongst ambassadors, only 7.8 percent are women, but in the third level secretary bracket this figure rises to 33 percent.

Meanwhile, in the Education Ministry, women are in the majority, with 63 percent of the posts. However, they account for only 25 percent of the executives, even now the ministry is headed by a woman, Susana Decibe.

But women working on gender issues are not intimidated by this situation, stressing that a decade ago the number of women taking important posts in public administration were even fewer than today.

And in the last five years some – though few – sectors have even doubled the female portion of their workforce.

Discrimination is no less of an issue in the private sector, where only five percent of executive posts are held by women.

But in Parliament the situation is different. In the Chamber of Deputies, where a cuota law was approved in 1991, female held seats increased from 13 to 73 out of a total of 257 members, while in the Senate, where the law does not apply, they are four out of the 72.

In the Judicial Power, things are no better. Only 20 percent of judges are women and none of these has – or has ever had – a post in the Supreme Court – a nine-member team.

Hence, the “glass ceiling” is very much a reality to the female employees of the Foreign Ministry, often keeping women back from the heights they aspire to throughout the public administration – an area where a female participation model should be forged as an example to the private sector.