Media Center

Press Release

Michelle Bachelet at OAS: “The Current State of Affairs in Latin America and the Caribbean Represents a Great Opportunity to Change the Lives of Millions of Women and Girls”

Michelle Bachelet, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, requested today the process of change be speed up for effective recognition of women’s political rights in the Americas, considering the current situation on the continent, and claimed that “affirmative action” should be put into practice, and not just recorded on paper.

“The current state of affairs in Latin America and the Caribbean represents a great opportunity to change the lives of millions of women and girls”, Bachelet said. “We should speed up the process of change, widen our alliances with a strategic vision and make the fight for equality a central goal of our societies”, she added.

The UN high ranking official delivered the keynote address in the closing day of the First Hemispheric Forum “Women’s leadership for a citizens’ democracy”, co-hosted by the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OAS, UN Women, and the Ibero-American General Secretariat. Bachelet was introduced by CIM President Rocío García Gaytán, and CIM Secretary Executive Carmen Moreno also attended.

According to the former Chilean President, it is the “key moment” for the region to increase women’s participation in their countries’ political agenda. “If new affirmative actions and mechanisms of electoral equality to assure its fulfillment are implemented in the upcoming elections, we will advance faster”, she said.

For this reason, she insisted that changes are needed because, despite the fact “democracy in Latin America has grown firmer”, the system is still imperfect. “Many democracies establish limits to what should be a better and far reaching political representation”, especially in the case of women, she said.

It is therefore necessary to include all society’s stakeholders in the process. “The key is to incorporate visions and experiences representing the aspirations of millions of women, because without them democracy will further deteriorate. Initiatives can spring from governments, civil society, mass media or universities”, she continued.

The Head of UN Women stated that “affirmative actions” such as a quota system should be first developed legislatively, but she stressed the need for governments to effectively implement the laws, even through sanctions, if necessary.

“Good legislations have a positive impact, but there are still voids to be filled with an adequate combination of stimuli and sanctions to avoid the temptation of noncompliance. Without these substantial modifications, the growth rhythm will continue to be remarkably slow.”

The Chilean politician highlighted that, in order to obtain “the effective implementation of full citizenship rights”, societies must enforce an economic transformation to guarantee women’s independence. “Women’s empowerment” can be achieved, she said, “through adequate legislation, private sector’s active participation and financing of efficient national programs” supported by private and state-owned inter-governmental financial institutions.

The process to achieve these objectives, she explained, does not end, but starts with women, and particularly “those actively participating in politics and those in legislative roles.” To those women, Bachelet offered support from UN Women and encouraged them to form alliances in order to reach the common goal: “Guaranteeing political, economical and physical autonomy in women’s lives, which is essential to improving their economical and social condition.”

“The job is far from easy and the path is long”, she warned, “but I am convinced that we have millions of allies who understand the relevance of full citizenship not only for women, but also for youth and indigenous people”.

This process, however, has already advanced both globally and regionally. Between 1995 and 2009, she explained, women’s representation within the world’s national parliaments increased from 12 to 19 per cent, and 28 national parliaments have reached the Millenium Development Goal of 30 per cent, although just five of them achieved this without a quota system.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, 12 countries have legally established quotas, six of them have surpassed the 30 percent “parity threshold” and other 10 are somewhere between 20 and 30 percent. The regional average reaches 22 percent. She concluded that “we are starting this century’s second decade, which will certainly see further advancements in the field of women’s political participation”.

A gallery of photos of the event are available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-605/11