Without women, democracy is incomplete; that is the implicit assumption of the report published on October 21 by the Inter-American Commission on Human rights (IACHR) which analyses women’s political participation in South-American countries.
The IACHR points out significant examples of progress with regard to the political participation and representation of women in the Americas, underlining that, over the last twenty years, many women have been elected as Presidents or Prime Ministers in Chile, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil and so on. Moreover, the Commission values positively the development of institutes and Ministers aiming at promoting women’s rights and their political leadership.
On the other hand, however, the Commission has observed that the presence of women in decision-making processes regarding not only politics, but also the civil, economic, social and cultural spheres of public life is still limited. This discrepancy is due in particular to a number of structural obstacles and to the persistence of gender discrimination, whose roots are grounded in old practices and convictions. For instance, women aiming at important public offices have to deal with socio-economic disadvantages, such as a limited access to financing in order to fund their political campaigns. Besides, especially in rural and marginal areas, women are almost unaware of their political rights and are victims of different types of violence that undermine or nullify the exercise of their rights, including the right to vote.
Against this background, it is very complex to achieve a greater numerical representation in positions of power and it is necessary to implement temporary special measures to achieve this goal, such as the adoption of gender quotas laws. Indeed, since there are no fines for those who do not respect these measures, they are generally ignored.
Ultimately, the IACHR asks States to adopt appropriate measures able to guarantee women the exercise of their rights in order to fully participate in politics and be represented in every sphere of public life. Gender equality can be achieved only through the elimination of socio-cultural discriminations and the prevention, punishment and eradication of any form of violence against women.
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