Santo Domingo.- The National Council of the civic movement, Participación Ciudadana, affirmed that the political parties are reluctant to grant the space that the Dominican political woman deserves and that it is regrettable that they do so, even in violation of the legal and constitutional provisions that govern the matter.
Through a statement, the National Council of the civic movement pointed out that the most recent case is the congress held by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), in which the registration of its central committee was completed and its committee was renewed. political.
“Of the 45 members that the political committee has, only 07 are women (15.5%), and of the 321 chosen to complete the central committee, only 61 are women (19%). In recent times, the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) chose its Executive Directorate made up of 62 members of which only 10 are women (16%) ”, underlines the National Council.
The civil society organization assured that this situation occurs despite the provisions of Law No. 33-18 on Political Parties, Groups and Movements, whose article 24.6 establishes that parties must “institute mechanisms that guarantee internal democracy, gender equality and equity at all levels of their organizational structures, establishing in their internal statutes the quota or percentage of participation of women in the management bodies of the political organization throughout the national territory and abroad, not being able to , in no case, be said quota less than the percentage established in the Law “, which is 40%.
Citizen Participation, he regretted, in addition that women remain in a frank minority in other parties and in the government where of 37 important officials in President Luis Abinader’s cabinet, only 27.5% are women and 72.5% are men, which means that only three women occupy the position of ministers of 22 positions for 13.6%, according to an analysis by the firm Engage.
“These are not isolated situations but rather a macho culture that must be overcome to avoid discrimination in most public spheres, such as in the Senate where there are four women out of a total of 32 members (12.5%); or in the Chamber of Deputies with 48 deputies, out of a total of 190 (25.26%); or in the municipal sphere with 19 women mayors out of a total of 158 (12%) ”, says the National Council.
The Dominican Constitution superseded the concept of quota and introduced that of gender balance. Despite this, this constitutional provision, which is ten years old, has not been applied even in the high courts, since in the Constitutional Court there are only three women of 13 members (23%) and in the Supreme Court of Justice 04 of 17 ( 23.5%).
The senior leadership of the parties, as well as our leaders, must provide the necessary political will to make the constitutional text a reality. The pretext that women do not present their candidacies or do not win the highest positions in the State and the parties, must be overcome by a real effort, with institutional mechanisms to achieve gender equality.
Declarations and tributes are of little use on International Women’s Day if this is not manifested in the recognition of the contributions that women make every day in the political sphere and in the right that half of the population have to access positions of power.
Participación Ciudadana urges women politicians not to give up in their struggle to have their rights recognized. We also commit ourselves to accompany them and follow up on the fulfillment of a conquest that took a lot of time and effort to be established in the Constitution and in the Laws.
