"Women's participation improves democracy"

Eleonore Caroit, María Emma Mejía, Gabriela Warkentin, Myriam Méndez Montalvo and Marcela Aguiñaga after participating in the dialogue 'Women of America for rights and well-being', in Mexico City.Gladys Serrano

A group of Latin American leaders has analyzed on Wednesday morning the participation of women in the democracies of the region, a subcontinent hit by inequality and sexist violence. Despite the progress made in Latin American countries, this group of women still advocates for greater political inclusion. "Women's participation improves democracy," said Marcela Aguiñaga, head of the Provincial Government of Guayas, Ecuador.

Aguiñaga participated in a discussion organized within the framework of the Women's Dialogue of the Americas, organized by EL PAÍS, PRISA and UN Women. She discussed the representation of women in politics in the region alongside French MP Eleonore Cariot and Myriam Méndez, coordinator of Valiente es Dialogar, a Colombian organization. The event takes place this Wednesday at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and has also involved Claudia Sheinbaum, head of Government of the city, and Francia Márquez, vice president of Colombia.

"Rights are fragile even in the largest democracies in the world," said Deputy Cariot, who gave as an example the fact that in France a law on equal participation in political spaces was approved several decades ago, but so far women represent only a third of the French parliament. The legislator has recognized that in democracies "there are leaders who fight against those rights." This is, according to her, one of the main challenges women face in ensuring their participation in politics. "It is not because you are a woman that you are a feminist," said Cariot and gave as an example the leadership of the conservative Giorgina Meloni in Italy or Marine Le Pen in France.

One of the main problems faced by women in Latin America is inequality, Myriam Méndez has acknowledged, who has affirmed that this situation worsened for them during the covid-19 pandemic. "Despite three decades of women's struggle, we have not been able to make the final crack to inequality, the battle is winning us," she said. "What we are doing is not enough," he said. Méndez explained that this eternal problem of inequality has now been joined by climate change and migration, which affect women with special force. Facing these challenges, he explained, requires imagining a new democracy in which dialogue between the groups that are antagonistic in each of the countries of the region is prioritized.

These leaders have agreed on the importance of maintaining the struggle of women to expand their participation in local politics, because, despite the advances, they have said, there is still much to achieve in Latin American democracies. "Women's participation makes many of our causes real. We must continue fighting, that must be the agenda," said Ecuadorian Aguiñaga.

Subscribe hereto the newsletter of EL PAÍS Mexico and receive all the informative keys of the news of this country