I. General Information

Objective:

To share reflections and experiences on the implementation of quotas for women in Latin America over the last decade and their impact on women’s political participation; analyzing women’s relationships with the electoral and political party systems, as well as the actions that could be serve as complementary tools for this affirmative action.

Directed toward:

Leaders of political parties, legislators, government and social organizations, academics and researchers, feminist groups and movements, as well as other groups interested in the issues of women’s participation in politics and gender equality.

Methodology:

Over three days, there will be master conferences and panels, with participation from a highly experienced delegation of experts from different countries who will explain the fundamental elements in assessing the impact of the quota for women, an analysis of electoral systems’ tendencies and dilemmas, equity of financing and campaign processes, and the vision of women’s role in politics from a gender perspective. The success of other complementary or alternative actions to the quota for women, which are valid to be considered in a strategic plan, will also be analyzed.

II. Purpose

Since 1991, with the approval of the Quota Law in Argentina, a process of incorporating women candidates in electoral laws and political parties began in Latin America as a type of affirmative action in order to achieve greater equality in women’s political participation. Though these norms were preceded by statutory regulations in various political parties around the continent, women’s political participation began to increase in the region when the quota for women became a legal requirement.

In 1996, the quota was approved in Costa Riva and Paraguay, and was later incorporated in 1997 by Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Apart from Honduras, where the law was adopted in 2000, and Uruguay, where the law was passed just this year, the quota for female candidates has been implemented in Latin America for more than a decade. Thus it is an appropriate time to gather together specialists in this issue in order to exchange ideas on the outcomes that this law has had in the region, based on personal experience and research analysis, emphasizing its achievements and limitations and actively relating it with the diverse electoral systems where it has been enforced.

Although Latin American countries present different political realties, they have all been affected by an ancestral patriarchal culture that limited women’s integration in public life. The region is experiencing, however, an exceptional moment when for the first time several countries have women heads of state, creating an emergent female leadership with unknown consequences. At the same time, the change in the family breadwinner, as well as the increasing integration of women in social, economic and cultural life, are having a great impact on women’s political life and in the leadership of relevant political parties.

For the Dominican Republic – where the application of the quota for female candidates has increased women’s political representation, but is still far from achieving results as satisfactory as in Argentina or Costa Rica— hosting this event is a magnificent opportunity to learn from other regional experiences and formulate appropriate strategies in order for this affirmative action to be even more effective.

Through its Administrative Chamber, the Central Electoral Board fulfills its obligation of promoting an increasingly representative political participation and additionally seeks to ensure that the law and regulations already established will be carried out in order to correct the historic under-representation that has affected the Dominican woman in the area of public decision-making.

III. Co-Sponsor

This event is co-sponsored by International IDEA, the National Congress’ Chamber of Deputies and the Secretary for Women.

The seminar’s documents, which include informative pamphlets, agenda, promotional leaflets and more, are available in Spanish and can be found at: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/es/node/7319