The activity was carried out at the site of the Culture and Arts Palace Tecleño in the Municipality of Santa Tecla, was coordinated as a joint working strategy promoting women’s political participation by the Salvadorean Institute for Women’s Development (Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer -ISDEMU)-; the National Association of Salvadorean Women Mayors, Governmental Officials and Councilwomen (ANDRYSAS); “The Mélidas” and the Women’s Collective for Local Development.
Doris Nieto, member of ANDRYSAS, stated that the research will permit them, as an Association, to include in the public agenda a problem which is widely experienced and little acknowledged so that the Councilwomen may speak of the situations that they are confronting.
Delia Cornejo, member of “The Mélidas”, declared that the contributions are also reflected in other political spheres, such as in the Legislative Assembly and political parties. She shared, based on her past experience as a Representative and Manager in a municipality, that she had lived similar experiences such as the ones obtained by the research.
In the framework of the final elaboration process of the Special Integrated Law for a Life Free of Violence for Women, she was able to include some of the behaviours identified in the research, such as expressions of violence against women that are sanctioned: Article 54. Violent expressions against women. Whoever incurs in any of the following behaviours, will be sanctioned with a fine representing two to twenty-five minimum commercial or service salaries: d) deceiving, bringing discredit, degrading or isolating women within their work, educational, communitarian, political or citizenship spaces, or another analogous one as a form of discriminatory expression in keeping with the law in force; e) avoiding, limiting or hindering women’s participation in any academic training process, political participation, laboural insertion or health care.
The research was carried out in the framework of the project “Support to Strengthening the Quito Consensus for Women’s Empowerment”, of the Gender, Governance and Political Participation Programme of UN INSTRAW, now part of UN Women, financed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation –AECID-.
