Thursday, 24 February 2011
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
PERU: Popular Women Vote-Catchers Stand in for Real Participation
Credit:Courtesy Congress of Peru
LIMA, Feb 7, 2011 (IPS) - Women candidates nominated for the presidential and legislative elections in Peru in April tend to be big names in the worlds of sports, television or show business, or are following family tradition. But political parties are failing to promote meaningful participation by women in politics.
There are two women among the 11 presidential hopefuls seeking to succeed President Alan García on Jul. 28. In the 2006 elections, there were three women running for president.
A third woman, Mercedes Araoz of the governing Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP), resigned her candidacy because her party would not honour her demand that persons under investigation for corruption be excluded from the party slates.
Keiko Fujimori, at present running third in the polls, is the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who is running her election campaign from prison where he is serving 25 years for crimes against humanity and corruption.
Juliana Reymer, a former street vendor who now runs her own small business, became the candidate of the small centrist Fuerza Nacional party when its previous nominee left the party to support former president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who is the front-runner in the polls.
"These presidential and congressional elections are a disgrace," Rosa María Alfaro, head of Calandria, an organisation promoting women's political participation, told IPS. "Male arrogance is the basis of even Keiko Fujimori's campaign, because she depends on her father. There is a kind of gender dependence."
Alfaro also criticised the way political parties have drawn up their lists of candidates for the next Congress, to be elected for a five-year term in April. By law, at least 30 percent of the candidates must be women.
But to meet the quotas, parties have recruited prominent women from other walks of life, rather than training and promoting their own women members. Since the 1990s, "outsiders" and flash-in-the-pan candidates have held an attraction for Peruvian voters.
Former showgirl and television presenter July Pinedo, a 1990s sex symbol, is on the congressional candidate list for the centre-right PAP.
According to local media, Alberto Fujimori personally drew up the congressional list for the right-wing Fuerza 2011, formally headed by his daughter. The list of candidates includes Gina Pacheco, his personal nurse and a frequent visitor to his prison cell, and Leyla Chihuán, the captain of the national women's team for volleyball, a popular sport in Peru.
And at the top of the list for Toledo's centre-right Perú Posible party is 1980s volleyball star Cecilia Tait, while soap opera actress Ebelin Ortiz is also a candidate.
The right-wing alliance Cambio Radical, meanwhile, has nominated former starlet Daysi Ontaneda, frequently featured in the gossip columns.
The head of Asociación Civil Transparencia, Percy Medina, told IPS that in a study on female political participation carried out by his organisation, women political leaders and activists complained of "arbitrary decisions" by male leaders who impose "media personalities with no political experience instead of active members of organisations" as party candidates.
In the survey of women leaders and activists from five different political parties, all of the respondents emphasised the lack of a level playing field between men and women in terms of access to leadership posts and candidate nominations, Medina said.
In his opinion, "a culture of machismo which hinders women from achieving a more decisive role" is behind this inequality and explains the profusion of actresses and sportswomen on candidate lists, instead of experienced women politicians.
"The perception is that women's participation in Peruvian politics has slid backwards," even though women presidential or congressional candidates are now quite common, said Medina.
Alfaro predicted that the April elections will not resemble the November 2010 regional and municipal polls, when two women battled it out for the post of mayor of Lima. The winner was Susana Villarán, a moderate left-winger, and her rival was Lourdes Flores, a conservative.
Both women had been presidential candidates in earlier elections and had recognised track records as politicians when they stood for the key position of mayor of the capital. "Their proposals were well developed and were debated in the media and among the general public," said Alfaro. "It was a campaign and a democratic contest truly led by women."
Alfaro, an expert on communications and gender, said the presidential candidates and Alberto Fujimori are using popular women as vote-catchers, at a time when ideology is weak and personal conflicts are rampant in political parties, and male politicians are desperate to win at any cost.
For instance, Luis Castañeda, the presidential candidate for the populist Solidaridad Nacional, placed second in the polls, chose as his vice presidential running mate Carmen Núñez, the estranged wife of a millionaire businessman and provincial mayor who supports a different presidential candidate.
Lisbeth Guillén of the Manuela Ramos women's movement agreed that Peru's political parties "do not truly encourage women's participation," in spite of the fact that in opinion polls voters say they want to see more women active in politics and are sympathetic to the potential prospect of a woman president.
Guillén pointed out that electoral quotas for women are enshrined in the Peruvian constitution, and that thanks to this, the number of women in Congress has increased steadily. The outgoing parliament (2006-2011) has 35 women lawmakers, equivalent to 29 percent of the seats, compared to 26 women in the 2000-2006 legislature, and 14 in 1995-2000.
The activist said political parties nominate crowd-pleasing personalities who can attract a large number of votes because they must secure at least five percent of the national vote in elections in order to maintain their official registration.
However, she said voters have another way to make their voices heard: the so-called "preferential vote," which allows voters to select candidates on congressional lists according to their own preference, thus changing the order of the candidates pre-established by the parties.
Cenaida Uribe, president of the congressional women's caucus, offered another viewpoint on women's presence in parliament. A former volleyball player for Peru, she belongs to the nationalist Gana Perú party led by former presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, in fourth place in the polls.
"Every one deserves an opportunity to make a contribution," she told IPS. Artists, for example, can promote laws on cultural affairs, and she as a sportswoman has been able to push for laws that favour sports. "Newcomers to Congress who have no political experience should not be under-estimated," she said.
In her view, the legislative term that ends in July "has been exceptional," because for the first year Congress was presided over by a woman speaker, all the commissions have included women, and "indigenous women, coca-growing peasant women, Afro-Peruvian women and low-income women are represented in parliament."
But Uribe, who is black, stressed that in spite of these positive aspects, "there is still too much machismo in Congress, which cuts women off from access to the democratic decision-making process." (END)
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Exploring 'Turkishness': women’s rights, entrepreneurship and ethno-religious identity - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
ZEYNEP DERELİ
The modern Turkish Republic was founded as a secular democracy. As we are approaching the centennial of the founding of the Republic we can see how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.
We still face significant issues regarding human rights, particularly in relation to minorities and women. Turkey still struggles with defining what a “minority” is, and falls short in offering equal rights and opportunities to individuals who are not part of the mainstream but are no less deserving of respect—particularly its Kurdish, Armenian, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
Even for “mainstream” Turks, vital rights like freedom of expression, media and religion are withheld from individuals in the slippery interests of concepts like “insulting Turkishness.” And although women are not absent from the top ranks of Turkish businesses, schools, and government, Turkey still suffers from a widening gender gap. The female participation rate in the work force is actually lower than it was twenty years ago, despite the fact that more women are going to school.
The long arc of our Republic’s history has tended not toward being a “European” country merely in name, but toward being a democratic country in form and spirit. As we know, gender equality, the driving force behind development, is one of the main missions of Europe. Although Turkey’s legal code is now largely in accordance with the EU acquis communitaire, unfortunately, the influence of more traditional cultures, particularly along ethnic and religious lines, is a large obstacle to women’s empowerment in general.
Ultimately, to unleash Turkey’s true potential, we must aggressively pursue gender equity in all aspects of Turkish society. Doing this requires a comprehensive strategy that includes strengthening women’s education and employment rights and performance, removing discrimination in society through culturally sensitive initiatives, incubating gender equality by developing visible role models and adapting actions to closely monitored and measured progress. Success stories in achieving gender equality around the world point to promising models that can be employed immediately. Empowering women is the best way to enable development.
To understand the challenges facing women in Turkey, an examination of the gender gap in education and employment is an essential starting point. Despite vast improvements, Turkey still suffers from a large gender gap in education. Although the adult female literacy rate has risen from 66 percent to 80 percent in the last twenty years, adult male literacy is still 16 points higher. The gender gap is 4 percentage points for primary school enrollment rates, and twice that for secondary school enrollment. And the gap widens in rural areas where traditional gender discrimination is at its strongest. Furthermore, although 45 percent of university degrees were awarded to women in 2005, this number is projected to drop to 37 percent by 2025.
When inequality starts with education it continues for a lifetime, as exemplified by Turkey’s gender gap in employment. Over the last two decades, the rate has dropped from 34 percent to 26.4 percent, which is much less than the OECD average of 43.6 percent. Turkey ranks last in the OECD, trailing Mexico whose rate is 37.6 percent. It also trails the Middle Eastern and North African average of 32 percent.
Detrimentally, like education and employment, women’s entrepreneurship lags in Turkey. Women entrepreneurs in Turkey share many of the same motivations as their counterparts elsewhere: to create solutions to problems in their markets, societies and lives. They aspire to exploit innovative ideas, to get out of “no point” jobs, to become independent or self-employed, to work flexible hours, to increase their mobility and to leverage their skills.
However, Turkish women are more likely than their foreign counterparts to pursue entrepreneurship out of boredom or, more importantly, economic necessity. In one study, one in six said entrepreneurship was a means to escape the boredom of being housewives. And the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that one third of female entrepreneurs in Turkey are motivated by necessity (rather than opportunity), a rate far higher than every other country studied except Serbia.
Various factors in Turkey impede women’s entrepreneurship (and women’s employment in general), including a lack of adequate political representation, a lack of adequate access to markets and marketing, to credit and financing and control of resources and property, discrimination in recruiting and in the workplace, insufficient social services like childcare, and the ill-preparation of girls entering the workforce as a result of the education gap. But the last reason may be the most elusive: the failure to cultivate a spirit of equal rights among women. Cultivating a “spirit” is truly a cultural question.
Unfortunately, Turkey has no overarching strategy for developing female empowerment. However, from this brief discussion we can see what might be good pillars for such a strategy. In order to strengthen women’s education and employment rights and performance, we should invest in a broad range of women’s education, training, and social services.
In order to remove discrimination in society through culturally sensitive initiatives we should continuously investigate issues in women’s empowerment, including the interplay of culture, religion, and ethnicity. Furthermore, major stakeholders, such as family men, business associations, unions, political parties, and universities, must be included as a part of the solution. Finally, interventions are needed to fight negative discrimination and employ positive discrimination by enacting and enforcing appropriate laws.
In order to incubate women’s employment and develop visible role models, we should start by encouraging women’s employment at all levels, creating support networks and removing as many obstacles as possible; in addition to inspiring women’s employment by creating more visibility for successful female business leaders. And in order to adapt our actions to closely monitored and measured progress we should review progress regarding women’s empowerment through thorough, regular reporting and key indicators.
Achieving gender equality, given all the challenges facing women, is no easy task. But by developing a visible, comprehensive, culturally sensitive, locally executed, and adaptable strategy that supports women at all stages of the lifecycle we can achieve a goal far loftier than equal pay for equal work: we can enable women to empower themselves.
Achieving understanding and cooperation is no easy task as it requires a set of common, consistently applied liberal democratic principles that transcend the boundaries that threaten to divide us – general, geographic, cultural, economic, educational, linguistic and sectarian.
It also requires not merely tolerating differences between people and peoples, but respecting and appreciating those differences. And finally, it requires committed domestic and international initiatives.
At home, Turkey needs to work much harder to unify its people, not around an ethno-religious notion of “Turkishness,” but around the values, rights, responsibilities and privileges of being a citizen of Turkey.
Abroad, Turkey must work harder to drive common understandings and to support common principles and values, particularly with the West, rather than simply boasting of stronger ties with the Middle East.
In the end, how we achieve gender equity, one of the basic tenets of unity within diversity, is much less about passing the necessary laws in compliance with EU acquis than it is about transforming society.
Turkey will not only develop greatly, but will also be a strong force for development elsewhere, if it can achieve gender equity around these shared values. In so doing, we can hope for a Turkey that is democratic, secular, strong, peaceful and creative and that works toward harmony and peace in the international arena.
* Zeynep Dereli, director of the Atlantic Council's Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, is also a senior research associate at the United Kingdom-based Foreign Policy Centre, which published the full version of this article, as part of the series 'Exploring Turkishness.'
The modern Turkish Republic was founded as a secular democracy. As we are approaching the centennial of the founding of the Republic we can see how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go.
We still face significant issues regarding human rights, particularly in relation to minorities and women. Turkey still struggles with defining what a “minority” is, and falls short in offering equal rights and opportunities to individuals who are not part of the mainstream but are no less deserving of respect—particularly its Kurdish, Armenian, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
Even for “mainstream” Turks, vital rights like freedom of expression, media and religion are withheld from individuals in the slippery interests of concepts like “insulting Turkishness.” And although women are not absent from the top ranks of Turkish businesses, schools, and government, Turkey still suffers from a widening gender gap. The female participation rate in the work force is actually lower than it was twenty years ago, despite the fact that more women are going to school.
The long arc of our Republic’s history has tended not toward being a “European” country merely in name, but toward being a democratic country in form and spirit. As we know, gender equality, the driving force behind development, is one of the main missions of Europe. Although Turkey’s legal code is now largely in accordance with the EU acquis communitaire, unfortunately, the influence of more traditional cultures, particularly along ethnic and religious lines, is a large obstacle to women’s empowerment in general.
Ultimately, to unleash Turkey’s true potential, we must aggressively pursue gender equity in all aspects of Turkish society. Doing this requires a comprehensive strategy that includes strengthening women’s education and employment rights and performance, removing discrimination in society through culturally sensitive initiatives, incubating gender equality by developing visible role models and adapting actions to closely monitored and measured progress. Success stories in achieving gender equality around the world point to promising models that can be employed immediately. Empowering women is the best way to enable development.
To understand the challenges facing women in Turkey, an examination of the gender gap in education and employment is an essential starting point. Despite vast improvements, Turkey still suffers from a large gender gap in education. Although the adult female literacy rate has risen from 66 percent to 80 percent in the last twenty years, adult male literacy is still 16 points higher. The gender gap is 4 percentage points for primary school enrollment rates, and twice that for secondary school enrollment. And the gap widens in rural areas where traditional gender discrimination is at its strongest. Furthermore, although 45 percent of university degrees were awarded to women in 2005, this number is projected to drop to 37 percent by 2025.
When inequality starts with education it continues for a lifetime, as exemplified by Turkey’s gender gap in employment. Over the last two decades, the rate has dropped from 34 percent to 26.4 percent, which is much less than the OECD average of 43.6 percent. Turkey ranks last in the OECD, trailing Mexico whose rate is 37.6 percent. It also trails the Middle Eastern and North African average of 32 percent.
Detrimentally, like education and employment, women’s entrepreneurship lags in Turkey. Women entrepreneurs in Turkey share many of the same motivations as their counterparts elsewhere: to create solutions to problems in their markets, societies and lives. They aspire to exploit innovative ideas, to get out of “no point” jobs, to become independent or self-employed, to work flexible hours, to increase their mobility and to leverage their skills.
However, Turkish women are more likely than their foreign counterparts to pursue entrepreneurship out of boredom or, more importantly, economic necessity. In one study, one in six said entrepreneurship was a means to escape the boredom of being housewives. And the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that one third of female entrepreneurs in Turkey are motivated by necessity (rather than opportunity), a rate far higher than every other country studied except Serbia.
Various factors in Turkey impede women’s entrepreneurship (and women’s employment in general), including a lack of adequate political representation, a lack of adequate access to markets and marketing, to credit and financing and control of resources and property, discrimination in recruiting and in the workplace, insufficient social services like childcare, and the ill-preparation of girls entering the workforce as a result of the education gap. But the last reason may be the most elusive: the failure to cultivate a spirit of equal rights among women. Cultivating a “spirit” is truly a cultural question.
Unfortunately, Turkey has no overarching strategy for developing female empowerment. However, from this brief discussion we can see what might be good pillars for such a strategy. In order to strengthen women’s education and employment rights and performance, we should invest in a broad range of women’s education, training, and social services.
In order to remove discrimination in society through culturally sensitive initiatives we should continuously investigate issues in women’s empowerment, including the interplay of culture, religion, and ethnicity. Furthermore, major stakeholders, such as family men, business associations, unions, political parties, and universities, must be included as a part of the solution. Finally, interventions are needed to fight negative discrimination and employ positive discrimination by enacting and enforcing appropriate laws.
In order to incubate women’s employment and develop visible role models, we should start by encouraging women’s employment at all levels, creating support networks and removing as many obstacles as possible; in addition to inspiring women’s employment by creating more visibility for successful female business leaders. And in order to adapt our actions to closely monitored and measured progress we should review progress regarding women’s empowerment through thorough, regular reporting and key indicators.
Achieving gender equality, given all the challenges facing women, is no easy task. But by developing a visible, comprehensive, culturally sensitive, locally executed, and adaptable strategy that supports women at all stages of the lifecycle we can achieve a goal far loftier than equal pay for equal work: we can enable women to empower themselves.
Achieving understanding and cooperation is no easy task as it requires a set of common, consistently applied liberal democratic principles that transcend the boundaries that threaten to divide us – general, geographic, cultural, economic, educational, linguistic and sectarian.
It also requires not merely tolerating differences between people and peoples, but respecting and appreciating those differences. And finally, it requires committed domestic and international initiatives.
At home, Turkey needs to work much harder to unify its people, not around an ethno-religious notion of “Turkishness,” but around the values, rights, responsibilities and privileges of being a citizen of Turkey.
Abroad, Turkey must work harder to drive common understandings and to support common principles and values, particularly with the West, rather than simply boasting of stronger ties with the Middle East.
In the end, how we achieve gender equity, one of the basic tenets of unity within diversity, is much less about passing the necessary laws in compliance with EU acquis than it is about transforming society.
Turkey will not only develop greatly, but will also be a strong force for development elsewhere, if it can achieve gender equity around these shared values. In so doing, we can hope for a Turkey that is democratic, secular, strong, peaceful and creative and that works toward harmony and peace in the international arena.
* Zeynep Dereli, director of the Atlantic Council's Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum, is also a senior research associate at the United Kingdom-based Foreign Policy Centre, which published the full version of this article, as part of the series 'Exploring Turkishness.'
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