According to the Latinobarómetro report from July this year, most of the Latin American and Caribbean region is “experiencing a democratic recession.” This recession manifests itself in “the low support for democracy, the increasing indifference to the type of regime, the preference and attitudes in favor of authoritarianism, the collapse of the performance of governments and the image of political parties”. In several countries in the region, democracies are “in a critical condition,” the document says, while in others this condition simply no longer exists. At the same time, the region is embarking on a path marked by environmental crises and the consequences of climate change. In April this year, we received a warning: According to the Economic Commission for Latin America, at the current pace, only a quarter of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would be achieved in Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Last week, leaders from around the world met at the United Nations General Assembly to review implementation and explore how to accelerate the SDGs. This is the perfect opportunity to reaffirm at the highest level the commitment to sustainability, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls as a goal and cross-cutting axis of the entire 2030 Agenda.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly stated: “Gender equality is a matter of power, power that men have jealously guarded for millennia.” Transforming and redistributing that power takes time and requires the most comprehensive political and personal efforts Engagement of all citizens. At the current pace, it will take 130 years to achieve equal representation among heads of state and government worldwide. Today, women make up only 28.7% of ministerial cabinets in Latin America and the Caribbean. In national legislatures, women’s participation is somewhat more encouraging, although far from parity: it represents 35.8%, compared to 26.5% at the global level. And at the subnational and local levels it is worrying, as there are only 25.5% of local government seats and 15.4% of mayoralties.
Only nine countries in the region have adopted legislative measures for equal representation and participation; and a further nine are still subject to temporary support measures (gender quotas). Our horizon is that parity will be established as a principle of democratic representation and that affirmative action or quotas will no longer be necessary to correct this historical exclusion of women from the exercise of power. But there is another aspect for women to be able to fully exercise their rights: without economic autonomy, without co-responsibility of the whole of society – that is, men, the state, the market and communities – around national welfare systems. , without access to funding with transparency and accountability of political parties and without a new political culture free from gender-based violence, women will not be able to participate equally, even though their rights are officially recognized in all our constitutions.
This year, the regional parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean, the ministers and high authorities of Mercosur Women, parliamentarians at the global level within the framework of the Human Rights 75 initiative and the representatives of the FFP+ group (+Politics Exterior Feminista) gathered. ), reaffirmed their commitment to parity in politics. But these are difficult times for the further development of democratic institutions, regional integration and multilateralism. That’s why we need governance that is up to the challenges of the 21st century, i.e. robust democratic institutions. So that equal access and equal opportunities for participation and leadership are no longer just an issue for women, but become a public priority for promoting more inclusive, just and egalitarian societies that consolidate their democracies, peace and security and eliminate poverty and inequality.
It is time to step on the accelerator towards equality and equal democracy.
Cecilia Alemany is Deputy Regional Director and Officer-in-Charge of the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean.
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