332- chp 6 Political Inclusion and institutional innovations

women, indiegnous people, afro descendants, and ordinary people

in 2015, which three countries had female presidents

Critsina Fernandez Kirchner- Argentina

MICHELLE BACHELET- Chile

Dilma Rousseff- Brazil

democracy allows

• citizens to organize and compete for govt office w power and to vote

• poltitical inclusion - the ability to run for office and make legally binding decisions

the female president of 2015 from Argentina, Brazil and Chil

Cristina Fernandez Kirchner- arg

braz- Dilma Rousseff

chile- michelle bachelet

Mala Htun;s argument on enduring discrepancy

• any enduring discrepancy between the pol participation of disadvantaged groups as citizens and their presence in decision making bodies is evidence of injustice

• principle and reality of political inclusion

• can result in situations where, even though elections are equal, the political system fails to represent disadvantaged groups

• disadgvantgaes due to historical exclusion and lack of access to reosurces

in 2015, what was the proportion of the number of women in guatemala’s congress

13 percent

three types of inclusive institutions

• gender quotas and reserved seats- alloacting a percentage of seats in the congress to women/ indig people. afro descendant

• Participatory Budgeting - ensuring citizend are participaing in a specific area of decision making- like allocating parts of a municipal budget

  • rather than having them act onlythrough elected rep

• prior consultation or consult previa- particularly applied to indeugnous people who are affected by a potential decision- they’re consulted before its made. used when projects may impact territories or communities

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some of the insittutions develoepd for inclusions were pioneered first in latam and then embraced by other regions in the world. for example

• gender quotas - argentina 1991, and by 2010, by 57 nations

• participatory budgeting - potrto alegre brazil, and by 2010- 71 countries

• FPIC- more dev in latam than the rest of the world

what year do we use as a baseline for comparing subsequent trends

1990- most latam nations were governed by a democ elected leader

the first woman to become president of a Latin American country by winning a democratic election for president. (+ which two women had been presidents before chamorro)

the president of nicaragua- violeta chamorro, in 1990
- ruled from 1990-1997

isabel peron - argenta- 1974-76 after her husband and ex pres died

lidia gueiler tejeda- bolivia- 1979-1980- desgated after an unsuccessful military coup

since 1990, how many women have been elected as president of latam

7 (excluding nicaragua) (violetta chamorro)

from central america-

• panama 1999-2004 - mireya moscoso

• costa rica 2010-2014- laura chinchilla

• honduras- 2022 - xiomara

from south america

• argentina- cristina fernandez - 2007-2015

• brazil - dilma rousseff - 2011-2015

• chile -michelle bachelet - 2006-2010, 2014-2018
  
  since 2018 - 2 presidents

what has the progress been when looking at cabinet positions

• cabinet ministers make imp decisions, gain vsisbility, and can lauch a bid for presidency.

• in 1995, less than 10% of positions were held by women

• after 1995, grwoth has been positive, and we have surpassed the prop by 30% by 2020

women in ministerial positions 1990-2010- top performers in 2020

Top Performers: sotuh america

1. Colombia: 57.9%

2. Peru: 55.0%

3. Ecuador: 37.9%

central america-

Top Performers:

1. Nicaragua: 58.8%

2. Costa Rica: 50.0%

3. El Salvador: 47.1%

women in ministerial positions 1990-2010- bottom performers in 2020

Bottom Performers for South America:

1. Argentina: 22.7%

2. Brazil: 9.1%

3. Venezuela: 23.5%

4. Bolivia: 25.0%
   
   
   central

5. guatemala,

6. cuba

7. dr

women in ministerial positions has not eliminated gender bias. justify/ an increase in the number of women ministerial positions has not eleiminated gender bias.

• women must be better qualified than men to receive appointments

• theyre overreprsesneted in low-prestige ministries and under- represented in high-prestige posts (ie foreign affairs, defense, finance, interior)

why is the legislative branch importanct

• more numerous and accessible that in the exec branch

• entry point into national pol

• stepping ston e to the executive.

• much of the discussion abt womens access has focused on leg branches

progress in data in women in parliament

• positive

• in 1990- less than 10% of seats in the lower house

• by 2020, reaching nearly 30% in the lower house in democratci countries

women in parliaments lower or single house- top and bottom performers

TOP:
south america

• bolivia w 53%

• argentina - 40

• ecuador- 39.4

central america, mexico and carribean

= theyve been doing comparatively better

• cuba- 53.2

• mexico 48

• costa rica 45.6

• nicaragua 47.3

BOTTOM

SA- brazil, colombia, paraguay

CA- guatemala, honduras

Table 6.4 Women in parliaments: Upper house, Latin America, 2020 -

• TOP:

  • bolivia (47), argentina (40), uruguay (29) - SA

  • CA- mexico 49.2
    

• BOTTOM

  • SA- braxzil- 13.6

  • CA- dom repub - 12.5

AFTER THE TRANSITION to democ in the 80s to the 90s, women faced situations which made pol inclusion relevant. state the figures in the 1990s.

• women could participate but couldnt actually make diescisions

• 1990 actually saw the wave of democ - got the frist female preside democratically elected in nicaragua chamorro

• at that point, women rep less than 10% of cabinet minister

• 8.4 percent in parliament

• 3.7% in the senate

but in the next 30 years from 1990 to 2020,

• cabinet and parliament positions increased fourfold (for women)

• senate positions increased eight fold (for women)

what goal did latam reach, along with europe, that was set by the international communtiy?

1995 beijing platform of action reqs taht at least 30% of members of decisin making shd be women

• latam and europe were the only twor regions to reach

• latin america- only region of the developing world to achieve this target

latam - highest perce of women in lower chamber 31.2 (2020)

pacific - highest perc of women in upper chamber 44.9 (2020)

an interesting comparison w europe - latams progress

• The extension of the right to vote to women occurred later in Latin America than in Europe: in Latin Amer- ica women gained the right to vote in most countries in the 1930s through the 1950s

• whereas in most European countries female suffrage was recognized in the 1910s and 1920s.

• However, Latin America and Europe have progressed in tandem with regard to the representation of women in parliament.

Factors that affect woemns represionstation

econ pol cult, international

• literature points to pressure of civil society organosations

• domestic political coalitions

• international norms

• role of gender quotas

what are gender quotas

• explicit advocacy for the political inclusuon of women

• mechanism in the context of elections w aim of increasing women participation

• they can be for general elections, primaries, or seats in the parliament

  • two types of quotas exist

    • legally mandated - binding candidate quotas - more in contecy of latam

      • pol parties are legally mandates to include a certain proportion of women competing in open elections

    • voluntary - vol primary, candidate and reserved quotas

Quotas alone aren’t enough — they work best when combined with strong electoral systems and other supportive measures.
help explain by see it in comb w pr and majoritarian election states

In majroitarian systems like the US- u have one seat per district so 30% of seats need to be of women, so parties look at larger areas and its harder to apply quotas per disrtrcit

• but in pr governments that are common in latam

  • multiple seats per district

  • partied can thus have several candidates per district and its easier t meet quotas within each district

    • in a plurality majority system, voters cast a vote for candidates of parties and can make a gendered decisions- they can opt to vote for just the males

• two types of pr systems

  • open listed- voter can choose individual candidates- less control over gender outcome

    • voters vote for a candidate from a party w many options- can choose gender within the party- can opt to vote only male

  • close listed- choose parties tat control candidate order- alt style- better for inclusion

    • Parties can be required to alternate male and female candidates (e.g., woman-man-woman…).

    • This increases chances women get elected, not just placed on the ballot.

      • here they just vote for party which have alt lists of candidates genders, but they dont vote for candidates, j party, so atleats two women will be selected if that party is chosen

debates- the case for and against gender quotas

for

• wuotas dont discriminate, but compensate for cactual barriers that prevent women from their share of pol seats

• women have the same rights as citizens for equal repo

• men cannot represent the interests of women, only womena can rep the diversity of women

against:

• qupotas are undemocratic - voters should be able to decide whos elected

• against the rpinciple of equal opp for all - women are given the pref

• pol rep shd be a choice betwwen ideas and political platforms and not social categories

the first country to adopt a significant binding candidate gender wuota in the world and in lat am

argentina in 1991, may latam nations followed suit and by 2015, only guatemala, cuba and venezuela didnt have gender quota laws.

Since the 1990s, gender quotas have not just been adopted — they’ve been improved. SINCE THE ADOPTION OF QUOTAS, they have been strngthened by reforms

reform 1- from quotas and increas to parity! leaders: ecuador, bolivia and costa rica

• INITIAL QUOTA SLAWS REQ 20-40% REP

• then later- some coutnries pused beyond this percenetage

• some coutnries also moved to parity - 50% of candidtaes must eb women

  • led by ecuador in 2008., adopted by bolivia and costa rica in 2009

  • by 2019, 8 nations had adopted parity laws

reform 2

• ensuring that women actually get elected

• some parties tried to bypass spirit of the quota by placing women low on party lisrts

• new laws- specific placement rules of alternation so they have a real chance to win

Other reforms

• electoral bodies having to check party lists and make sure they follow rules

• have sanctions of non complying parties

• eg. parties have male alternates for female nominees- so she resigns after being elected

• running women in districts where the party loses usually
  Argentina - 1993 and 2000

  brazil 2009

  costa rica 1999

  ecuador 2000

  Mexico 2014

pattern we find: If gender quotas have an impact on women’s representation, we would expect countries

with quotas to do better than countries that do not have quotas. Additionally, countries with

stronger quotas should do better — that is, have more women representatives — than countries

with weaker quotas. And this is precisely the pattern we find.

countries that helped w reform 1- increased percentage of wemn candidates quota - parity

ecuador 2008

bolivia and costa ica 2009

8 coutnries by 2019 w parity laws

enforcement reforms _closing loopholes countries that took the lead

argentina brazil ecuador costa rica mexico

all latam nations have pr systems, but varying systems - combination w pr, open and close listed. list which nations have which

combining pr with majoritarian systems

• bolivia

• mexico

• panama

• venezuela

closed list

• argentina

• costa rica

• nicaragua

• urugay

• paraguay

• guatemala

• dominican republic

open list

• el salvador

• honduras

• peru

• chile

• brazil

• ecuador

• colombia

nations with combined pr with majoritarian systems

• bolivia

• mexico

• panama

• venezuela

nations w closed list pr

closed list

• argentina

• costa rica

• nicaragua

• urugay

• paraguay

• guatemala

• dominican republic

nations with open listed pr

• el salvador

• honduras

• peru

• chile

• brazil

• ecuador

• colombia

which countries have more women representatives- countries w weaker or stronger quotas

stronger

evidence of strnegthening women rep in countries due to strong quotas

mexico- lower chamber ( 37.4 to 48.2%) upper chamber (34.4 to 49.9%)

chile- (15.8 to 22.6% in lc), uc-= 18.4 to 23.3%

ecuador - increase till 2013, decrease in 2017 = lc; 3.7 to 41.6 to 38.0

countries w most salient patterns of quota rep strnegth

bolivis, mexico, costa rica, argentina, ecuador

honduras- increase in quotas hasnt shown in women rep

lowest= venezuela y guatemala

worst= paraguay

qupta laws are not the only factor affecting women’s inlusion in the parliament

eg. countries w same rep of women but diff quota levels= guatemala (0 quotas) and honduras (50%)

countries w same quotas but diff representations

= bolivia at more than 50% rep, and honduras w 20% representation

However, it is safe

to say that gender quota laws have had their intended effect: to increase the proportion of

women in parliament.

the adoption of gender quotas has been a global trand- trace its progress from 1991, to 2013, to 2019. where else do they exist. whats an alternative reform propsed, seeing thr US.

1991- argentina first nation to adopte binding candidate gnder quotas in 1991

2013- 60 countries

2019- more than 70 countries

reeached europe asia africa

country w/o bidnign gender quotas = us= propose voluntary candidate quotas instead b for parties.

Latin america is diverse and sees varying popns of indigenous people and afro descendants. name which countries see which demographic more.

indiegnous people= bolivia, peru, guatemala, ecuador

afro-descendants= brazil, cuba, venezuela, panama, colombia, dominican republic

pol inclusion is an indicator of the health of democracy

in comparison to women, the inclusion of indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants is more problematic.

• they havent made gains in pol inclusion as much as women have

• institutions that foster their inclusion have not gained ligitmacy and support to the same amt enjoyed by gender quotas

some nonwhite elected presidents in contemporary latin america

• evo morales bolivia - indigenous - 2006-2019

• hugo chavez - venezuela - afro indian 1999-2013

• alejandro toledo - peru - indigenous 2001-2006

the elcetion of —- as the president of bolivia in 2005 was a landmark for bolivia and latin america

evo morales, showed that high pol office wa spossibl e for indigenous people

pol includsion of indig people lag from weight in popn as comapred to women too.

the political inclusion of indigenous epoeple lag from their weight in popn

prop in popn is not their rep oin politics

exceptions: bolivia and ecuador

• women hold avg 31% of seats in the lower chamber of congress and constitute 50-% of popn = relatively 0.6

• yet, only in bolivia, ecuador, nicaragua oanama and venezuela have people done as well as women

• indig people are less politically included in the govt

• women hold avg %f seats in the lower chamber of congress . ___ countries have done as well as women on avg throuhgout the region

31%

countries- nicaragua, bolivia, ecuadore, venexzuela, panama