Women in the Americas: Paths to Political Power

The conference, Women in the Americas: Paths to Political Power, is co-sponsored by PROLEAD of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Inter-American Dialogue, the League of Women Voters of the United States, and the Organization of American States Summits of the Americas Secretariat.
The conference has two central purposes. First, we want to assess the progress that women have made over the past decade in gaining access to national leadership positions in Latin America and the Caribbean, which has been a continuing objective of the presidential Summits of the Americas since 1994. Second, we want to draw on your experience and that of the women leaders who will be participating to develop a set of recommendations for governments, international agencies, corporations, and civil society groups on how to increase the number of women in public leadership posts and enhance their effectiveness. Background materials prepared for the conference will include a “report card” with updated information on the number of women who occupy positions of political power in each country of the hemisphere. We have also commissioned analyses of the impact of quotas and the role of political parties in facilitating women’s political empowerment; on how women perform in senior positions; and on the unique experience of Afro-descendant women in politics.
In the afternoon, we will hold a dialogue with the women leaders moderated by Washington Post columnist, Marcela Sánchez. Other members of the press community will also participate. Discussions will center on priority issues being promoted by the women leaders today and the strategies employed to achieve their goals. The afternoon event will be held at the Inter-American Development Bank, Enrique Iglesias Auditorium (EVI), 1330 New York Ave, NW from 3:30 to 5:00.
We know what an important contribution you can make to our discussions, and we very much hope that you will be able to participate. Please let us know if that will be possible by responding to this email or by writing to meetings@thedialogue.org.