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Q&A: "Politics Is the Key to All Doors to
Equality" for Women in Latin America
CARACAS (IPS) - "People have to imbibe
with their mother’s milk the idea that women
have an equal right to participate in
politics," says Gladys Acosta, UNIFEM head
for Latin America and the Caribbean, who
underscores that politics is the key that
opens all doors to equality.
Acosta, a Peruvian lawyer and sociologist,
has been an activist for women’s rights
since the 1970s. Until she assumed her post
in UNIFEM (the United Nations Development
Fund for Women) in late 2008, she
represented UNICEF (the U.N. Children’s
Fund) in various countries for a decade.
In this interview with IPS on a visit to
Venezuela, Acosta says access to education
is the biggest achievement of women in Latin
America, but one that is overshadowed by
inequality in the labour market and
workplace.
With respect to the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs), to be met by 2015, the worst
progress in the region has been made towards
reducing maternal mortality, while strides
have been made in cutting infant mortality
rates, says Acosta, who also discusses the
third MDG – gender equality and the
empowerment of women.
IPS: The international community began to
tackle discrimination against women in the
1970s. What has been learned in these three
decades?
GLADYS ACOSTA: After 30 years, it is clear
what the situation is and what needs to be
done; analysis should continue, but we know
enough to act. And what is clear is that
systemic action is needed, because
discrimination is systemic.
Isolated action does not break the
phenomenon of discrimination. It is not
enough, for example, to only focus on the
issue of violence against women while
ignoring the incorporation of girls and
women in education, their access to health
services, to politics, the achievement of
the labour standards to which they are
entitled.
Discrimination has an inertia of its own;
discrimination is what emerges if nothing is
done.
IPS: In what area have women made the most
progress in Latin America?
GA: Indisputably in education. The wave of
democratisation that put an end to the
military dictatorships in Latin America
prompted the massive insertion of women in
education. In fact there is a risk that
women will outnumber men in the educational
system.
The problem now is in the sphere of work.
The wages and salaries earned by women are
still far below their abilities and
contributions.
The idea that women’s salaries are
complementary to those of men is still
prevalent, when reality has shown that women
heads of households already represent 30
percent of the total in the region, and that
even women who have husbands are sometimes
the heads of their families.
Women have to be considered a labour force
that is equal to men in every respect, while
dismantling visible and invisible barriers.
But in this and other spheres, reality is
distorted by stereotypes, and as a result,
misguided solutions are applied.
IPS: Could you mention an example of that
outdated perception in the field of labour?
GA: Migration. It continues to be seen as a
male phenomenon, but it has become more and
more a female one, and women now account for
nearly 50 percent of all migrants. And we’re
talking about highly skilled migration. It’s
not true that the women leaving are domestic
employees, for example; what is happening is
that in the destination country, they often
take jobs far below their qualifications and
skill levels.
The result is that countries are losing
educated female workers, who could
contribute a great deal with their work, and
who end up in another country in
better-paying but lower-skilled jobs.
The investment in that person is lost, and
it is a process with a specific gender
aspect. Of course, there is also brain drain
among men, but in the case of women, they
had just begun to reach the educational and
labour systems and now they’re leaving.
UNIFEM’s conclusion is that the phenomenon
of female migration has to do with a failure
of accountability in terms of labour
policies, because if there were labour
policies aimed at holding onto educated
women, they would not leave.
IPS: Are public policies on women in Latin
America still full of flaws?
GA: There are many gaps, because what should
be done is not done, the necessary follow-up
is not carried out, and the authorities are
not held accountable for enforcing the laws.
Public policies are still welfare-, rather
than socially-, oriented, and that is very
evident at times of crisis like today.
Health, education and work must be
strengthened, and welfare-oriented policies
should be reserved for very specific
segments of society and periods of time.
But if the view of women is that they are a
vulnerable sector of society, public
policies are going to be misguided.
IPS: You emphasise that strengthening
women’s rights has a positive repercussion
on other rights.
GA: Of course, because promoting women’s
rights has a positive cross-cutting effect
on all other rights, and that is also true
in the case of the MDGs (adopted by the
international community in 2000).
For example, children’s rights cannot be
defended without defending the rights of
women, because a woman who is not aware of
her rights is not going to be able to
properly defend those of her children.
And in the area of child malnutrition, it is
extremely clear that women with more
information and a higher educational level
have a better understanding of what their
children should eat. In general terms,
better educated women take better care of
their children.
With respect to maternal mortality, it is
clear that lower levels of education among
mothers correlate with higher death rates.
Politics is a little blind, the state needs
a clearer view of what is going on with
women, a superdynamic sector.
IPS: Can political participation by women
correct that shortsightedness?
GA: Political participation is a central
factor. People have to imbibe with their
mother’s milk the idea that women have an
equal right to participate in politics. And
women must clearly understand that political
participation is a key – a key to having a
voice, a key to exercising full citizenship.
Several things have to be done at the same
time. Laws on violence must be passed,
because that is really an enormous obstacle
for political participation, for development
and for individual human beings.
But at the same time, progress has to be
made in terms of women gaining a greater
voice in politics, because that is where
decisions are made, and this has to happen
at all levels of the state: in the
executive, the judiciary, where electoral
rules are made – everywhere.
Only a small group makes it into positions
of political power. Women already have the
necessary critical mass to accelerate access
to their rights, and the best accelerator is
politics. Their presence in the realm of
political power is essential.
IPS: Are quota laws the right instrument for
fuelling that increased presence?
GA: Quota laws (reserving a proportion of
candidacies for women) are affirmative
action measures, they are temporary, and men
who get so nervous about these laws should
be told the following: the day that parity
is achieved, the quotas will be gone.
The biggest problem is that progress is so
slow. At this pace, around 40 years will be
needed to reach that parity. Tools to speed
things up are needed, and that’s what quota
laws are.
IPS: What is the role of men in achieving
gender equality?
GA: They have a fundamental role to play.
The participation of men is needed to
dismantle gender inequality, at the level of
politics as well as in society and in the
home.
Patterns have to be modified; the chip has
to be reset. A woman and her partner, both
of them working and both of them educated –
there is no reason why she should be solely
responsible for the domestic chores.
It’s a question of sharing roles, and that
doesn’t happen yet anywhere in the world.
Men "help out," they don’t share, and the
lower you go on the social ladder, the worse
that is.
Women in lower income sectors have to secure
the food as well as prepare it, get clothing
for the kids, raise them, take charge of the
home, bring in money. The burden is
exhausting for them, and especially when
tasks that should be the responsibility of
the state have been left to families.
IPS: With regard to the MDGs, and to gender
equality in particular, in what aspects is
the region doing the best and in what
aspects is it lagging?
GA: There are countries that are going to
reach important goals. But one goal that is
very difficult to fulfill is the MDG on
maternal mortality.
The average maternal mortality rate in the
region is 130 deaths per 100,000 live
births, compared to nine in Europe and other
developed countries. That is a huge gap.
The goal to be met by 2015 implies a drastic
reduction, which many countries are not
going to accomplish because if
discrimination has an inertia of its own,
that is even more true of maternal
mortality.
The reason for that is prejudice. Maternity
is seen as a natural phenomenon, and deaths
in childbirth, because there have been so
many, are also seen as natural.
It is necessary to closely follow what is
going on with maternal mortality, because it
has an enormous effect on countries like
Guatemala, where 70 percent of births take
place at home, but also on countries like
Argentina, where 95 percent of births occur
in health facilities.
Maternal health policies must once again
become a priority. Bolivia and Ecuador have
provided an example to be followed, by
offering free maternal health coverage: the
health system has the obligation to provide
care to any pregnant woman. That is how it
should be; it is unacceptable for maternal
health care to depend on a woman’s ability
to pay.
More progress has been made in reducing the
infant mortality rate, a problem that has
not completely been resolved, although huge
strides have been made on that front and
much more has been invested in that area.
IPS: Do the mainstream media reflect the
growing role of women as actors and
protagonists in society?
GA: No, the mass media have not undergone
the necessary shift; their agenda very much
revolves around commercial questions, and is
based on stereotypes. One example: anything
related to violence against women is treated
as crime beat news. They have to discover
that there is potential in a market of
thinking women who are demanding another
kind of offer.
Even the world of fashion has made much
faster progress in internalising the idea of
the liberation of women, and has made them
freer in their clothing. The media, on the
other hand, remain trapped by stereotypes.
They only see women in very specific roles,
as victims or villains.
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