Latin America & Carribean

After Lima

Latin American and Caribbean Women's Activists Rev Up for June

BY R. ERICA DOYLE

Activists from Latin America and the Caribbean were triumphant. They got the U.N. to open its doors a little wider for activists itching to participate in Beijing Plus Five this June.

As Latin and Caribbean women geared up for the review at a regional pre-conference in Lima this February, Virginia Guzman warned her fellow activists to look beyond themselves. She pointed out that although, in the past five years, numerous governments in the region have created women's bureaus or women's councils, and promised plans for action at the state-level, the everyday lives of women remained unimproved. True feminist empowerment, Guzman emphasized, comes when power is shared by all women's activists from the level of the grassroots to the ranks of professional, "career" activists.

Guzman sounded a note that reverberates throughout the region. In the dazzling tapestry of ethnic, linguistic, economic and cultural diversity of the Latin American and Caribbean Region, there is one consistency: lip-service. Many governments have created National Women's Council's, Women's Bureaus, Ministries of Women's Affairs, but from reports given to the UN and NGOs's testimonies at Lima, progress has ranged from being incremental to non-existent. The bureaus, councils and ministries are charged with ensuring that gender is taken into account in all matters of national policy, as signatories to the Beijing Platform for Action. However, few governments made provisions for funding these actions, thereby hobbling activities and begging the question of who will pay the price.

The answer seems to be women. Panama, Jamaica, and Argentina, are notable exceptions. Each country established a cross-ministry plan for monitoring implementation of the Platform and/or the Commission on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), has begun to review and modify laws that promote gender inequity. Furthermore, each of these countries has created coalitions between government and civil society to implement programs in compliance with the Platform. Unlike many other countries, these three nations have actually set aside a budget to pursue these goals. It remains to be seen if the new bureaucracies can fulfill the activists' challenge not to decontextualize gender from more politically delicate issues such as land rights, racism, and the effects of militarism and globalization on all citizens.

Beyond Gender: Women as Citizens

Aside from the challenges created by institutionalizing gender policy, women activists in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to struggle with the following issues:

>>>fragile democracies: when there is limited access to political power for all people, a compromised and corrupt judiciary system, and lack of freedom to express dissenting opinions, the channels for creating change assumed in the Platform may be virtually non-existent.

Maria Teresa Schank, president and founder of the Argentinean Commission of Families of Victims of Police, Judicial and Institutional Violence, notes that even though there are fewer disappeared people in her country since the days of the "Dirty War," (1976-80), approximately three or four people "disappear" from Argentinian society every day. "There are disappearances under democracy. This is genocide, little by little." For women activists trying to create institutional change this may result in political persecution, unenforceable laws, unfriendly courts, or lack of resources at the state level.

>>> impact of globalization: structural adjustment policies often destabilize local agricultural markets and demonize social and environmental regulation as "trade barriers." This inspires governments to spend less on social programs or privatize them and emphasize the creation of a low-wage labor pool. While activists note that entry into the global marketplace is a fact of life, development and economic policies currently in place exploit women's cheap labor (women are 70% of the low-wage earners) and increase women's workload in the unpaid labor market by decreasing social spending for child, elder and health care and education. In turn, these services become low-paying "burdens" shouldered by women. This continues the pattern of leaving women out of the decision-making process and increasing the lure of traveling to overcrowded urban centers in the hopes of finding more lucrative work, sex-trafficking and sex work.

>>> getting accurate information: It's rare that data is broken down along gender lines. This makes it difficult to justify spending for women-centered projects or groups. The lack of gender-specific info. also makes it difficult to pinpoint true change. Numerous countries have called for disaggregation of data by sex in their national plans. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Women's Affairs Division is developing a sex disaggregated database with UNDP and ECLAC. As the Preview of the UNIFEM Report on Progress of the World's Women states, the problem is that "what isn't counted, doesn't count."

>>> diversity: activists in Latin America and the Caribbean unceasingly call attention to the complexity of identity in the region. Women of African descent, indigenous women, Asian women, disabled women, non-heterosexual women, and girls face institutionalized racism, lack of access, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination that are not addressed by increased legislation that targets women as a generic category. Institutions and their functionaries replicate other kinds of historical discrimination . As the Network of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American women notes, not only is there "feminization" of poverty, there is also an "ethnicization" of poverty. They maintain that political party quotas that use gender to establish political equality must also take ethnicity into account.

>>> communications infrastructure: On the local front, many activists are mounting successful media campaigns in their home countries, and a few state-level women's councils/bureaus/ministries are creating information campaigns around health, reproductive rights, images of women in the media, women's legal rights, and non-stereotypical classroom materials. The activists of this region have also taken great steps in creating transnational feminist communications networks. Feminist International Radio Endeavours (FIRE), Isis, Flora Tristan, ALAI and CLADEM, all have e-mail addresses, websites, and FIRE and WomenAction/Accion maintain Beijing+5 update sites. However most on-line sites and materials for the region are in Spanish, leaving French, English and Portuguese-speaking neighbors in the lurch.

What have been the real gains?

According to the Preview of the UNIFEM Report on the Progress of the World's Women, most of the nations studied in Latin America and the Caribbean have shown improvement in three areas: women's share of the paid non-agricultural labor market, secondary education for girls, and women's representation in national and local legislatures.

The region has one of the strongest showings for the secondary education of girls, with little or no gender gap. In fact, in some countries, like the Bahamas, Venezuela and Uruguay, girls' numbers for secondary education are higher than that of boys'. However, the data does not show what subjects girls are studying or their graduation rates. Perhaps the bottom line is that girls of working age, regardless of education, can still expect lower-paying jobs than boys with similar educational qualifications.

Some countries experienced a marked increase in women's share of seats in the legislature, such as Ecuador (1% to 17.4%), Bahamas (4% to 19.6%) and Barbados (4% to 20.4%). In fact, most countries enjoyed some increase in the number of women in the legislature except, Cuba, Guyana and Nicaragua, which experienced great declines.

Most countries also experienced an increase in women's share of the paid non-agricultural labor market, most notably Jamaican women who at 50% had the highest percentage of participation. The data of course, present their own problems. The increased share of the paid labor market may be an effect of outsourcing and multinational corporation's cheap labor pools -- without an increased minimum wage these hardly signify gains, and may in fact, signify losses on a broader scale.

The question of the quality of girls' education and whether they are receiving increased access to science and technology courses remains unanswered. The women who occupy the legislative positions may not help the broader base of women who are not in their own social class, or their effectiveness may be restricted by party politics.

A Country by Country Breakdown of Upcoming Activities

ARGENTINA: Cupos Law required political parties to include a minimum of 30% on the ballot which has led to increased funds for training for women from the National Employment Fund; and are conducting an on-going review and revision of legislation to bring it in line with CEDAW (Commission on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women).

BELIZE: Will integrate a gender sensitive management approach in the implementation of social services.

BOLIVIA: Working groups comprised of everyday citizens and representatives from the government are gathering to discuss concrete ways of implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. Currently, one of the hot topics for women's activists involves a challenge to a law that was recently passed to permit abortion in cases of rape. A 12 year old girl raped by her stepfather has since been denied an abortion by doctors who refuse to perform it for "ethical" reasons.

BRAZIL: The National Council of Women's Rights is now chaired by the country's Minister of Justice. There is now a proposal to change legislation regarding punitive measures for illegal abortions.

CHILE: Servicio Nacional de la Mujer reports that the lack of implementation of the Beijing Platform has been difficult due to a lack of government cooperation.

COLOMBIA: National Department for Women's Equality, helped approve laws regarding domestic violence, youth, housing and women heads of household. There has also been an incorporation of gender analysis in programs for homeless women and an educational campaign regarding women's rights.

ECUADOR: Women's activists are undertaking a number of studies to better incorporate gender into national policy. The country recently passed a domestic violence law.

HONDURAS: Recently established National Women's Institute with a cabinet-level executive director who attends all cabinet meetings.

JAMAICA: Bureau of Women's Affairs has connected with other organizations serving rural women and household workers; commemorate international women's day; conduct justice system workshops across the country; conduct seminars on gender policy issues for elected officials. The Bureau has also garnered support from international agencies such as OXFAM, IADB and Japanese, Swedish, and Canadian development organizations. Women's Media Watch in Jamaica is conducting a campaign against sexist advertising.

PANAMA: Women's activists have secured a detailed budget for a Beijing action plan consisting of institution building, violence, health, rural women, and social communication as priorities. Activists have also made an effort to invest in women's compensation through a social emergency fund that has a total of 65 projects with evaluation mechanisms. Women are receiving aid from the European Union,UNICEF, and the German government.

PERU: A National Nutritional Program has been launched to create 11,000 women's microenterprise projects.

ST LUCIA: Ministry of Women's Affairs launched a women's health information campaign; National Women's Machinery addressed gender issues though sensitization workshops, and in public media; workshops on health and sexuality have been instituted to address teenage pregnancy and domestic violence programs.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Women's Affairs Division (WAD) reviews legislation on equal rights, state of common law wives, maternity leave, domestic violence, and valuing unpaid work. The Ministry of Social Development now provides shelter for battered women. Meanwhile, WAD is creating a sex disaggregated database with UNDP and ECLAC and is considering an amendment to sexual offences act for wider range of offenses, harsher punishments, and HIV testing.

Out of many, one people

The feminists of the region consistently articulate an agenda that weaves together a platform that will ultimately deliver justice for all: the environment, ethnicity, youth, economics, health and sexuality, and education. They insist that a one-dimensional program is not enough. As they struggle against the historical chimeras of oligarchy, religious fundamentalism, latifundia, and violence from Tijuana to Port of Spain they reflect the agenda of a new millennium, forging a culture that legitimizes and honors the human rights of all women.

R. Erica Doyle is a Trinidadian-American writer and activist based in Brooklyn, New York.

POSTED MARCH 8, 2000

Latin American and Caribbean member states were the last to hold their regional meeting which took place in early February in Lima, Peru. The conference emphasized programs for women’s equal representation throughout all social and economic sectors and especially in the media. The meeting yielded the “Lima Consensus,” which provides a plan of action as Beijing Plus Five approaches. In addition to urging governments to create and follow through on national programs of action, the document emphasizes the need for governments in the region to sign and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Towards Women (CEDAW).

Amongst women’s groups involved in Beijing Plus Five, Mujeres Accion 2000 is organizing Latin and Caribbean women in cyberspace.

Stay tuned to WomensWire for more about women’s activism in this region.