Annual
Gathering of the Group of Women Parliamentarians (2013):
“Women
in Power: Recent Changes in the Political Arena“
Session 1: Women Presidents of National
Legislatures
We recommend:
1.Encouraging ParlAmericas member States to
support legislation that sets effective quotas for electing or appointing women
to parliaments, and that establishes effective, transparent and gradual
processes toward parity, ensuring women obtain competitive spaces on election
lists. States should take measures to have a critical mass of women in
parliaments so that they are in a position to impact the decision-making
processes of their countries. States should not rely on quotas alone, which are
necessary but insufficient to achieve the stated goal, but should do so to
facilitate gender parity in parliamentary representation.
2.Encouraging female politicians to take assertive
action to increase and maintain the representation of women in parliaments, in
order to support one another within political parties. Further, that action be
taken to ensure that women who are elected or appointed receive on-going
support from their parties, and from other parliamentarians, and have access to
training programs.
3.Holding a summit to consider the new challenges
and current realities facing women and develop strategies to address these
realities through a focused hemispheric agenda.
Session 2: Leadership and Political Participation
of Women of African Descent
We recommend:
1.Ensuring the institutionalization of gender equality
public policies, which includes proportionally women of African Descent, and
where such institutionalization exists, it be adequately strengthened through
laws, norms, and decrees in order to generate the necessary social, cultural,
and economic changes. Sufficient budgetary resources must be allocated to the
institutionalization process in order to bring forward the changes.
2.Seeking more open and transparent gender
equality processes, and defining strategies to achieve the stated objectives,
while demanding governmental accountability in order to combat the perpetuation
of the patriarchal system.
3.Asserting that the contribution of this
political vision guarantee that all women be the subjects of rights,
particularly women of African Descent, who are to the target of multiple forms
of discrimination.
4.Creating formal mechanisms of support to promote
cooperation and collaboration between civil society organizations and elected
representatives.
Session 3: The Effects of Women’s Participation in
Politics
We recommend:
1.Encouraging political parties to give women
incentive to join their parties in order to promote women’s political
empowerment. Striving to attain 50% representation of women in parliament in
order to move forward an important new agenda.
2.Engaging the cooperation of all women and men,
including leaders, as strategic allies in order to achieve the cultural and
social transformations, where women, who comprise more than 50% of the
population of the Americas, see their rights taken into consideration by public
policy and government programs. In order to advance, it is crucial that women
occupy decision-making positions within parties and that a stable majority be
created with men.
3.Educating and training men and women from all
regions of ParlAmericas, and providing orientation in parliamentary processes,
building capacity and training those who are not aware of the various
dimensions of their position.
Further, influencing
the educational systems of our countries so that they are based on a form of
education free of sexist and patriarchal stereotypes which prevent the
recognition of men and women as equals.
4.Fostering that our parliaments dedicate national
resources to the economic empowerment of women, promoting credit programs for
women who wish to undertake business actions, and allocating financial
resources within the Budget to programs that support women’s participation in
the productive processes of their countries.