ICIEG defends women’s participation as fundamental to strengthening and quality of democracy

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ICIEG defends women's participation as fundamental to strengthening and quality of democracy
ICIEG defends women's participation as fundamental to strengthening and quality of democracy

Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG) defended today that a full democracy must represent society, reiterating that women’s participation is “fundamental” for the reinforcement and quality of democracy.

Marisa Carvalho spoke in an interview with Inforpress as part of the month dedicated to women, asserting that even four years after the implementation of the Parity Law, women’s merit, capacity and academic preparation are “constantly called into question”.

According to this official, in Cape Verde, parity has been achieved in the election of municipal councilors and deputies, but not in the leadership of municipal chambers according to the list published by political parties.

“The law does not require that women must head the lists, it does require that there be parity in the lists and this has been fulfilled, in all the lists that have been presented, the second on the list is a woman, but this step remains to be taken, it is what’s missing” he clarified, arguing that a full democracy must be truly representative.

Marisa Carvalho reiterated that women’s participation is “fundamental” to guarantee the quality, diversity and effectiveness of democracy, ensuring that public policies also meet the needs of women.

This underrepresentation not only reflects the structural and cultural barriers faced by women, but also, he stressed, the different perceptions between men and women for the same position, ultimately conditioning the position of women.

Despite the challenges associated with exposure, verbal violence, attacks on social media and aligning political life with personal life, the president of ICIEG added that there has been an increasing interest and adherence of women to the political system.

According to Marisa Carvalho, most women need support to get to power and to get there”, she highlighted, men need to give up their place.

Therefore, he stressed, it is normal for there to be withdrawal on one side and fear on the other”, stressing that men have been in power for four decades and still continue to exercise the dominant position.

He stated that the institution has implemented a series of training as part of the project in partnership with Spanish Cooperation to encourage women’s participation in the democratic process.

“We have developed these awareness-raising activities with women and men in several municipalities to really talk about gender issues, the parity law, we found that there is a little lack of knowledge about what the law is and what defines it. The case of the latter in Santo Antão was specific to municipal elected officials,” she explained.

Marisa Carvalho said that, on the ground, she found that women have little knowledge of the law that represents them and that the idea is to work with elected councilors and deputies to be spokespeople for women in the political world and publicize the Parity Law.

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