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Latin American women fight for their place in party politics

by Sebastian Grundberger, Kristin Langguth

Quotas and quarrels

It was not only at the last CDU party conference that women's quotas were passionately debated. The question of how to achieve an adequate representation of women in the political arena is also driving Latin American parties. This is especially true for centre-right parties, which are looking for their own answers to the clearly audible feminist movements in the region.

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Women's participation in Latin American politics looks promising at first sight. Some national parliaments are currently even exceeding or approaching the 50 per cent mark.  The discussion on women's quotas is present in practically all Latin American parties, even if it varies greatly.  Nevertheless, Latin American women also face great challenges when it comes to equal participation in political decision-making processes. Particularly exemplary are discussions that are strongly influenced by the national legal situation with regard to quota regulations. The centre-right parties in the region are faced with the challenge of positively addressing the issue of political equality themselves, while at the same time offering a counterweight to the forces to the left of centre, which mainly pursue a strongly feminist discourse. In the following, this complexity will be explained in a spotlight on the basis of five country examples with a view to KAS partner parties in the region.

The full-length publication is only available in German.

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Sebastian Grundberger

Sebastian Grundberger

Head of the Regional Programme Party Support and Democracy in Latin America and the Uruguay Office

sebastian.grundberger@kas.de +51 1 41 66 100

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About this series

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung is a political foundation. Our offices abroad are in charge of over 200 projects in more than 120 countries. The country reports offer current analyses, exclusive evaluations, background information and forecasts - provided by our international staff.