In Colombia, efforts have been made at the legislative level to ensure women’s presence within the political sphere, through Act no.581 of 2000, which guarantees the adequate and effective participation of women in decision-making processes within the different governmental branches and organs, and through the recent Act no. 1475 of 2011, adopted in view of the October elections this year, which stipulated that at least 30% of candidates on the electoral lists should be women.

It will still take some time before these legislative efforts function as a gender balancing factor in the country, managing to transform the reality of inequality and lack of access of women to decision making and power positions. In this regard, it appears that Act no.581 of 2000 is still always misinterpreted, being applied only in ministerial offices and municipalities, leaving aside other levels of decision making. However, recent studies on the evaluation of the implementation of this Act show that although there are still some gaps in its implementation, it is important to ensure that more women have access to decision-making positions.

As to the application of Act 1475 in the October elections of 2011, research conducted shows that the increased presence of women in the lists of candidates does not necessarily lead to them filling more positions; on the contrary their presence has decreased. In Medellin, for example, in the case of the municipality, compared to 2007-2011 and 2012-2015, the number of women in political parties’ lists has increased by 132% in accordance with the law; And contradictorily, there is only one woman within the municipality (out of 21 people); in local administrative councils, women represent only 37% (54 out of 147 people); and at the regional level, in the Departmental Assembly, women account for just only 7.6% (2 out of 26 women in the Assembly). This extends to the national level and confirms the theory that the more we advance in terms of power ,the weaker the female representation.

Comment sent in Spanish by Fundación de la mano contigo.

In my opinion, what is happening today in Peru is the opportunistic recruitment of women by political parties, which indicates that sexism still exists. In general, they do it to meet the quota, but what is worse is that women's participation is confined to the positions least likely to win, with some exceptions. However, women’s participation is increasing and I think it will be their own leadership skills that will enable them to position themselves within political parties. Pro electoral movements have gained more space in recent years.

Comment sent in Spanish by Blanco.

African history provides evidence of women’s participation in the workforce. It is imperative to know that where men fail, women succeed and the dignity of a person involves the right to take an active part in public life and personally contribute to common good.

Equal participation in decision-making is not a question of justice and democracy, but a necessary condition for women's interests to be taken into account.

Las! The province of Katanga, one of eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, rich in natural resources, has 50.3% of the female population, i.e. 4,843,532. Despite this statistic, we see that there is low female representation in decision-making bodies at different levels. The province of Katanga has 12 ministers; but there is only one female minister; the provincial parliament of Katanga, out of 102 deputies, there are 15 women. For the entire province, there is only one female mayor, 2 female deputy mayors, a district commissioner and a female deputy commissioner. Out of 52 Departments, 2 Departments are headed by women. However, there are no women with a high position in the security services. As for political parties, two women are to be encouraged as they are at the head of their political parties.

When observing Law No. 11/003 of 25 June 2011 amending Law No. 06/006 of 9 March 2006 on the organization of presidential, legislative, provincial, urban, municipal and local elections in Article 13, paragraph 3 and 4, we note that "... each list is established taking into account the equal representation of men-women and the promotion of people living with a disability; However, the non-implementation of gender parity and the absence of people living with a disability do not render a list inadmissible". By understanding this law, we can conclude that it is advantageous to women; but paragraph 4 challenges paragraph 3. The same applies to Article 448 and Article 450 of the Family Code.

Section 448 states that a woman must obtain permission from her husband for all legal acts which she undertakes in person. 

Regarding this law, we recommend that political authorities should be more actively involved in order to implement the commitments already  taken at the international, regional and national levels for the full empowerment of women; we also recommend the promotion of girls’ education so that there are more women that can occupy senior positions;

We also want to say that women leaders, men and organizations engaged in gender equality and women’s empowerment should be mobilized to build other women’s capacity and push them to participate in the country's politics.

The DRC parliament and senate should act as regulators and monitor compliance with gender balance in decision-making positions.

Similarly, Civil Society Organizations should continue to advocate with policy makers for women’s integration in decision making positions at all levels to be better taken into account;

Women who hold senior positions, especially elected officials and members of the government should be held accountable to their fellows and their ambassadors.

Women within decision making spheres, other women leaders and women's organizations have to come together and avoid any form of division in order to pursue a common struggle which is that of women’s empowerment.

Comment sent in French by Clémentine TSHIBOLA