Within the framework of International Women’s Day, the Office of the First Lady and the Gender Machinery of the Dominican Republic organized the “International Seminar Women in Sustainable Human Development”, held on 6-7 March in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The First Ladies from Latin America, UN-INSTRAW, governmental representatives, members of Congress, community leaders and representatives from NGOs from different Latin American countries and Spain, met during the seminar which received financial support from Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
During the event, national and international experts analyzed
women’s role in sustainable human development, focusing on different aspects such as health, education, political and social participation and economic development.
UN-INSTRAW presented the main findings of the studies carried out under the project
“Strengthening Governance with a Gender Perspective and the Political Participation of Women at the Local Level” that the Institute is implementing in 10 countries of the Andean and the Central American Regions, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. This three-year project (2006-2009), financed by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), focuses on three main lines of action: research, capacity-building and influence in public policies.
The research will analyze governance processes at the local level and women’s leadership in Latin American municipal governments, the barriers that women confront in electoral systems, the recruitment criteria of political parties, and the orientation of political financing systems.
According to the results of the diagnosis obtained by UN-INSTRAW,
women’s political representation in Latin America is very low. During the last decade, women’s representation increased by an average of 9% to 14% in ministerial positions, by 5% to 13% in the senate and by 8% to 15% in congress or in unicameral parliaments.
“The index of women’s political participation in local authorities is even lower. In 16 Latin American countries – having more than 15,800 municipalities –
women mayors only represent 5.3%, meaning that in absolute numbers 842 women headed municipal governments between 1999 and 2002. Official sources/electoral records do not have information disaggregated by sex, which is an obstacle for analyzing this sector”, explained Susana Rico C., Advisor to the Project on Women’s Political Participation Project of UN-INSTRAW.
Read the Seminar’s programme
Deficit in Statistics about Women in Local Central American Politics
Read the Executive Summary on “Diagnosis on governance, gender and political participation of women: Andean Region”
Read the Executive Summary on “Diagnosis on governance, gender and political participation of women: Central America”
[Documents available in Spanish]
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Valeria Vilardo
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