CIM Press Release 07-2011-EN
Women’s full citizenship is essential to real democracy
Media inquiries: Hilary Anderson, CIM Specialist, 1-202-458-3306, 1-202-290-5231 (mobile),
[Lima, Peru,November 18th 2011]Inequality and the under-representation of women in the legislative, executive and judicial powers, as well as in the leadership of political parties, are critical indicators of the weakness and limited legitimacy of current democratic systems.
The second meeting of the Regional Working Group on Women’s Political Citizenship concluded today in Lima, Peru. This hemispheric, inter-sectoral and multi-disciplinary group brings together experts from various countries in order to define a citizens’ democracy that recognizes and responds to the rights, experiences and visions of women.
At the hemispheric level, women occupy an average of 22.4% of seats in single or lower houses in national legislatures, and 23.5% of the seats in upper houses such as Senates (Inter-Parliamentary Union). A study by International IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank (2010) of political parties in 7 Latin American countries shows that, though women represent more than 50% of political party members, they occupy less than 20% of the leadership posts in these same parties. At the local level, women make up barely 8.5% of mayors in the region(ECLAC).
In response to this situation and with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Government of Mexico, CIM has begun, in collaboration with UN Women and International IDEA, an innovative hemispheric and participatory dialogue to identify and address that obstacles that current democratic systems face in terms of guaranteeing the rights and citizenship of women.
One of the main inputs to this dialogue process is the effort of the Regional Working Group, which will prepare an analytical frame of reference on women’s visions of a citizens’ democracy, on the basis of the commitments adopted by the States of the region through the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Belém do Pará Convention), among other agreements.
This framework will guide hemispheric debate, as well as the work of CIM and the OAS to support the strengthening of democratic governance in the region and the formulation of concrete public policy proposals to promote and protect women’s human rights and gender equality in the countries of the hemisphere.
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The Organization of American States (OAS) is the world’s oldest regional organization, dating back to the First International Conference of AmericanState (October 1889 to April 1890). It was established in 1948 with the aim of achieving among the States of the Americas “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.” The OAS prioritizes four pillars - democracy, human rights, security, and development – that support each other and are intertwined through political dialogue, inclusiveness, cooperation, and legal and follow-up instruments that provide the OAS with the tools to maximize its work in the Hemisphere.
Established in 1928, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) was the first inter-governmental agency established to ensure recognition of the human rights of women. CIM is made up of 34 Principal Delegates, one for each member state, and has become the principal forum for debating and formulating policy on gender equality and women's empowerment in the Americas
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