was installed the Summit of Congresswomen Elected for Equality with the purpose of drawing up a legislative agenda to guarantee the rights of women in the four years that they will assume the seat in the legislative apparatus. The meeting was led and organized by the Gender Table of International Cooperation in Colombia (MGCI), UN Women and in alliance with Prisa Media.
the vice president, Marta Lucía Ramírez, She was one of the high-level guests who attended the discussion on women’s political participation. “This is a proposal that comes from Noemí Sanín’s campaign. Later I proposed it in my 2014 and 2018 campaigns. And it has not been achieved, ”said the also foreign minister.
Ramírez sent a message to the elected vice president, Francia Márquez, wishing her to succeed in implementing the Ministry of Women and Equality, which she tried to implement in the current government of Iván Duque, but was unsuccessful. Despite this, she assured that from each of the portfolios, they have worked to generate and allocate resources to women’s projects. “It is understanding that the cause of women is not only for women, it is for Colombian society,” he added.
In that sense, the chancellor urged the new congresswomen to seek a space in each of the commissions in the Senator and the House of Representatives, especially in those that handle economic issues.
In the Third Commission or of Finance and Public Credit, only five women have formed it among 31 members in the periods of 2012-2022 in the House of Representatives; while in the Senator there were 17. “In these commissions, the voice of women has not counted and we have to ensure that the voice of women counts in the allocation of the budget,” stressed Ramírez.
Topics discussed at the summit
The elected congresswomen reflected on the advances in the participation and representativeness of women in Colombia and compared it with Latin America and the world; the women’s agenda and the effectiveness of public gender policies; the elimination of all forms of violence once morest women; the challenges for economic empowerment; women in the construction of peace and security; the construction of a legislative and political control agenda with a gender perspective and pending political reform.
In addition to holding a conversation with Marta Lucía Ramírez and Francia Márquez, they also spoke with the director of DANE, Juan Daniel Oviedo; the director of the Center for Social and Economic Research (CISOE) and recently appointed Minister of Agriculture for the elected government, Cecilia López Montaño, and the magistrate of the National Electoral Council, Doris Ruth Méndez.
The Director of Democratic Governance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Colombia, White Cardonastated several points to work on in legislative matters:
“We need to pay attention to financing and the correct use of resources —by political parties— to strengthen the political capacities of women.” Secondly, she explained that in the candidacies for Congress, through closed lists, “there must be mechanisms of internal democracy to ensure that women have the same capacity as men to access representation.”
Bibiana Aido Almagro, representative of UN Women in Colombia, affirmed that these types of meetings serve to find consensus among women of different political ideologies. In addition, she highlighted that the legislative period (2022-2026) that will take office on July 20 will meet the current gender quota for the first time.
“I think it is very important that there is a parity agenda, that there is the same number of women”said Aido. It is expected that it will have 32 senators and 54 representatives to the Chamber, with a total of 86 women, occupying 30% of the seats in the legislature.
Although this is an achievement, Alejandra Barrios, director of the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) He emphasized the importance of advancing the legislative agenda in effective representation with 50% of women in the formation and election to multi-member positions. She also urged the congresswomen to approve a law that sanctions political violence once morest women who exercise political leadership.
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