Abstract
Chapters 4 and 5 address the obstacles to achieve effective political participation for all women in Latin America—a necessary step to implementing meaningful gender equality, by looking at the experience of Mexico and Bolivia. This chapter addresses the remaining challenges women face in countries where formal gender parity in political representation has been attained at the national, and sometimes even at the local, level, focusing on the Mexican case, where despite an increase in female members of parliament in the 2018 elections (in which the lower legislative chamber consisted of 49.2% women and 51% in the higher chamber, respectively), political violence and harassment on the basis of sex continues to occur at all levels of power. The subsequent chapter (Chap. 5) continues to analyze the Mexican situation, where in spite of the parity in political representation mentioned above, ethnicity and poverty are formidable obstacles for Indigenous women to be taken seriously and respected even if they become elected. Chapter 4 presents as well the case of Bolivia where gender parity in political representation was attained in 2014 before than in Mexico. Given the fact that part of the legitimacy of the Morales government was a revaluation of the Indigenous cultures, many more Indigenous women than in Mexico, became elected at the national and local levels. However, as in Mexico, many of these elected women (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) had to confront serious challenges to the exercise of their office in the form of harassment and even political violence. Both chapters arrive at the conclusion that gender parity in political representation is only the first step in the strive to attain a real gender equality at all levels in our societies. This gender equality is not only about joining the already existent political institutions but about transforming them.
I would like to express my enormous gratitude to Robyn Baker who helped me enormously in the formatting and many practical details and edits to finish this article.
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Notes
- 1.
As outlined on p. 125 of the Beijing Platform.
- 2.
We are aware that using the word women may be interpreted as essentializing. We acknowledge the intersectionality all studies should have, as this article later on demonstrates. But speaking about general quota laws and political rights we cannot find any other word to describe this process.
- 3.
The Mexican Revolution was a seven year civil war fought on behalf of indigenous, peasant, and industrial workers groups that included a substantial number of women within each faction.
- 4.
In 1985, a huge earthquake destroyed a significant amount of Mexico City’s historical districts, causing many apartment houses to collapse. This prompted those affected to mobilize collectively, in which women took a leading role in participating and organizing these urban, popular movements. During the preparation and the execution of the Zapatista uprising, women also occupied key positions. Several of the commanders leading the occupation of the cities in Chiapas during this uprising, for example, were women.
- 5.
The revolutionary laws for women were made known some months before the uprising: First--Women, regardless of their race, creed, color or political affiliation, have the right to participate in the revolutionary struggle in any way that their desire and capacity determine. Second--Women have the right to work and receive a just salary. Third--Women have the right to decide the number of children they have and care for. Fourth--Women have the right to participate in the matters of the community and have charge if they are free and democratically elected. Fifth--Women and their children have the right to Primary Attention in their health and nutrition. Sixth--Women have the right to education. Seventh--Women have the right to choose their partner and are not obliged to enter into marriage. Eighth--Women have the right to be free of violence from both relatives and strangers. Rape and attempted rape will be severely punished. Ninth--Women will be able to occupy positions of leadership in the organization and hold military ranks in the revolutionary armed forces. Tenth--Women will have all the rights and obligations which the revolutionary laws and regulations give. Source: http://schoolsforchiapas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Zapatista-Womens-Revolutionary-Laws.pdf.
- 6.
COFIPE translated means the Mexican Federal Law for Electoral Institutions and Procedures.
- 7.
This is especially noticed by ONU Mujeres Mexico, which collects data on the political participation of women at the municipal level (2017–2018).
- 8.
As demonstrated by the ‘Estatuto de Morena’ (Mexico 2013).
- 9.
- 10.
ONU Mujeres México, ‘Participación Política de las mujeres a nivel municipal: proceso electoral 2017–2018’, p. 10.
- 11.
Ibid, p. 17 (Consulta Mitofsky 2020).
- 12.
Ibid, p. 49.
- 13.
In these coalition indigenous women’s groups gave priority to gender quotas over general ethnic quotas as was the original proposal. See: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Electoral/Bolivia/Leyes/LeyAgrupaciones.pdf.
- 14.
ACOBOL (Asociación de Concejalas de Bolivia), ACOLAPAZ (Asociación de Concejales de la Paz) and COSUCRE) are support organizations for women councilors in Bolivia, la Paz and Sucre, respectively.
- 15.
This fact has been demonstrated by several studies carried out by ACOBOL (2013). One of these studies was carried out in 24 municipalities in 9 regions (departments) in Bolivia.
- 16.
Domínguez and Pacheco, ‘Beyond parity in figures’ (pp. 5–6).
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Domínguez Reyes, E. (2021). Gender Parity in Political Representation: Advancing Descriptive Representation and Confronting Challenges Permeated by Gender, Class and Ethnicity. The Case of Mexico and Bolivia. In: Fitzgerald, A. (eds) Women’s Lived Experiences of the Gender Gap. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_4
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