Although
in the last decade the number of women in political posts at the national
level in Latin America has increased significantly, according to data
collected by UN-INSTRAW in 16 Latin American countries, only 5.3% of
governments at the local level are headed by women mayors. This
implies that most Latin American municipalities, where women participate less
in decision-making posts, lack plurality and representativeness,
In order to confront and close this gap in representation, discussions
were held during the workshop concerning new challenges and opportunities to
promote greater political participation of women in decision-making posts at
the local level, and a Project Consultative Committee.
Furthermore, activities and a concrete workplan were programmed for the third
phase of the UN-INSTRAW Project (2008-2009), oriented towards promoting
the formulation of public policies with a gender perspective at the local
level. The main goals of these activities, as identified by seminar
participants, were to promote the inclusion in these policies of the needs
and interests of women and to champion the full participation of women at the
local level.
With the aim of discussing these issues, the event gathered several experts
from the Latin American and Caribbean region, including: Elisabeth
Salguero Carillo (President of the World Parliament for Bolivia –
Representative of MAS), Claudia Ranaboldo (Coordinator for
the Andean region of the UN-INSTRAW Project), Miosotis Rivas
(Technical Secretary of COMMCA - Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de
Centroamérica), Yolanda Solana (Coordinator of the
UN-INSTRAW Project), Alejandra Massolo (Researcher and
expert in public policies from a gender perspective), Marcela Diaz
(Expert in Gender Issues), Ivannia Ayales (Coordinator for
Central America of the UN-INSTRAW Project) and the Political Participation
Unit of UN-INSTRAW.
