How to Elect More Women? Look to Costa Rica

[arcos]

I hadn't seen this news report from a week ago, but it is very interesting. As you may know I'm Costa Rican, and although our society is sadly still sexist lots of progress has been made. There has been some opposition to these kind of laws, and legislators were reluctant to approve them. Recent opposition to gender equality laws has come especially from the Libertarian Movement Party (the number four party in importance), but we are still firmly moving in the right direction.


How to Elect More Women? Look to Costa Rica

HOUSTON, Jan. 28 (AScribe Newswire) -- In 2002, the percentage of women municipal legislators in Costa Rica was unmatched by any other democratically elected national legislature in the world. A recent study examines how this Latin American country achieved such an enviable record.

In the past decade, a handful of Latin American countries, as well as Belgium and, more recently, France, adopted legislation to improve women's representation in their legislatures. Not all of these laws have been effective, but as a Rice political scientist found, countries could learn a lesson from Costa Rica's success.

<snip>

Costa Rica was an ideal study primarily for two reasons. Over a relatively short period of time, the legislature adopted three sets of progressively stringent quota laws, while other factors that may have influenced women's electoral representation remained unchanged (for example, the political culture, status of women, political parties and the electoral system).

<snip>

The first quota legislation in 1994 basically relied on Costa Rica's political parties to voluntarily increase the participation of women in elections. A second set of laws in 1998 mandated that women occupy at least 40 percent of each party's candidate list, and in the 2002 election the law required that women be in at least 40 percent of the electable positions.

<snip>

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20050128.135610.5&time=14%2054%20PST&year=2005&public=1

[arcos]

1. kick nt

[arcos]

5. kick nt

[ProdigalJunkMail]

2. sorry...forcing quotas on democratically elected positions

makes them no longer democratic.

theProdigal

[arcos]

4. replying again because it was lost...

In a winner takes all system this would hardly work and it would certainly be undemocratic. But with proportional representation and party lists, it is only fair to allow women to be on an electable position. They shouldn't be passed over in favor of a man just because he is a man. And sadly, that's the way things sometimes work.

It would be great if quotas weren't needed, but if they can be applied succesfully I think it's the best solution. It would be worse not doing anything at all and women not having the chance to serve their country.

[arcos]

3. kick, we lost a couple of posts here...

to answer a poster who asked (sorry, I wasn't able to catch your username), yes I do think that proportional representation works better. Although you don't feel such a close link to the people you elect because you no longer have one congressperson, there is a better chance someone you like is elected. While in a winner takes all district you may spend years without someone that you voted for in office, in my province (San José) we have a 20 member delegation (out of 57). A party can elect one person to congress from San José with just 4% of the vote in the province, which allowed 5 parties to get seats in the 2002 elections.

[arcos]

6. last kick... I'm surprised people aren't interested in this....

:(

[Dob Bole]

7. I've been to Costa Rica, and it's a progressive country.

When I was there, there were campaign posters that said "Vote por Usted" everywhere. Maybe you could enlighten me on who that candidate was.

First of all, Costa Rica doesn't have a standing military. Here, militarism is a must for political candidates, which inherently puts women at a disadvantage...

[arcos]

8. Very interesting point regarding militarism...

and yes, I think it probably makes an important difference here.

The candidate was current President Abel Pacheco. Obviously he had the most money, and he was a popular tv personality. When were you here?

[Dob Bole]

11. 2002

I was there with Habitat for Humanity. The director there is a Peruvian woman named Dona Adela. I was going to return last year, but our trip was cancelled.

A lot of American Christians have moved to Costa Rica because it is much more peaceful than the US.

[Swamp Rat]

9. ¡Pura vida!

Estoy de acuerdo. :hi:

edit: ¡Feliz Carnival!

[arcos]

10. tuanis!

Espero que estés bien, gracias! :hi: