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GENDER EQUALITY IN DEMOCRACY IN CHILE ISSUES FROM 1990 TO 2006

GOBIERNO DE CHILE. GENDER EQUALITY IN DEMOCRACY IN CHILE ISSUES FROM 1990 TO 2006. Presented by Ms. Vivianne Blanlot Soza Minister of National Defense Government of Chile. July 2006.

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GENDER EQUALITY IN DEMOCRACY IN CHILE ISSUES FROM 1990 TO 2006

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  1. GOBIERNO DE CHILE GENDER EQUALITY IN DEMOCRACY IN CHILE ISSUES FROM 1990 TO 2006 Presented by Ms. Vivianne Blanlot Soza Minister of National Defense Government of Chile July 2006

  2. The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is "What does a woman want?“- Sigmund Freud • “Sigmund Freud once said, "What do women want?" The only thing I have learned in fifty-two years is that women want men to stop asking dumb questions like that.” – Bill Cosby

  3. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (i) Chilean last 15 year's advances: (1991) National Service for Women was created as a public service responsible for women’s issues, working at the national and regional levels and headed by a Minister. (1999) Constitutional reform to recognize equality before the law between men and women.

  4. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (ii) (2000) Creation of Council of Minister on Equal opportunities and Equal Opportunity plans (1994-1999 y 2000-2010) (2002) Public Management Improvement Program (PMG), including gender equality concern in all public services, as part of the modernization process. (1999) Organic Constitutional Law on Municipalities empowers the municipalities to implement Equal Opportunity Plans at the local level.

  5. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (iii) Family Reform to family law to grant equal status to all children born in or out of wedlock, and thereby establish for them full equality before the law. (1998) Domestic violence law (1994), creation of Centers for Prevention and Care for Victims of Family Violence and a specialized police unit (Carabineros). Creation of a new property ownership regime, alternative to joint spousal ownership, granting the wife and husband equal rights and obligations.(1994)

  6. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (iv) Family Visiting rights for children in the custody of one of their parents, to allow children to maintain a regular and direct relationship with both parents. (2001) Social programs have focused on women heads of household, who have increased rose from 25.3% in 1992 to 31.5% in 2002. (40% of indigent families in “Chile Solidario” are headed by a woman) Creation of Family Courts and a Mediation System, to establish a specialized jurisdiction for dealing with family matters, with the assistance of professional interdisciplinary teams. (2004)

  7. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (v) Work Work leave for mother or father of a sick child (1993) Right to a minimum of two Sundays off per month (specially for workers in commerce) (1996) Prohibition of any conditions relating to pregnancy to affect access, mobility, advancement and renewal of employment for women. (“Pregnancy test”) (1998) Law on sexual harassment in the workplace (2005)

  8. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (vi) Work Women's participation in the labor force has risen sharply over the last decade, from 28.06% in 1992 to 35.57% in 2002. (Labor force participation rate for men declined by 1.49 percentage points over the same period). Despite this, Chilean women lag behind the female participation rate for Latin America, which stands at 45.2%. Employed women have higher levels of schooling than men. Working women with 13 years or more of schooling account for 37.79% of their total, while the proportion for men in this category is 26.83%. At the other extreme, 12.25% of women have little schooling (six years or less), while the corresponding rate among men is 17.75%.

  9. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (vii) Work In the last decade, efforts to reduce poverty in the country have shown positive and very significant results, including those for reducing female poverty. Between 1990 and 2000, the total poverty rate was cut almost in half, from 38.6% to 20.6%, female poverty declined from 39.3% to 20.8%, and the indigent population declined from 12.9% to 5.7%

  10. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (viii) Education Reform of the Constitutional Organic Law of Education to recognize the right of access to educational establishments for female students who are pregnant or are nursing mothers (2000) Constitutional reform making 12 years of schooling compulsory (2004) Between 1992 y 2002 the number of women in superior education doubled from 7.7% to 15.7% of women, representing half of all students.

  11. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (ix) Other Legal Reforms Ratification of the Interamerican Convention on the prevention, sanction and eradication of violence against women “Belem do Pará” (1998) Ratification of ILO 103 y 156 Conventions (1999) on the protection of maternity and shared family responsibilities. Law on family abandonment and payment of alimony, to ensure timely and equitable alimony provisions, and their effective enforcement.(2001)

  12. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (x) Other Legal Reforms Reform to the Civil Marriages Act recognizing divorce (2004) Law to facilitate paternity or maternity claims (2005) Paternal leave on the birth of a child (2005)

  13. PUBLIC POLICIES AND PUBLIC MANAGEMENT (x) Participation and Cultural Change • First women: Supreme Court, Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs, General of Carabineros. • In public policies, images and discourses in mass media, roles for men and women in the family and society. • Lead to: First Woman President Ms. Michelle Bachelet

  14. WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (i) • Women joined the Armed Forces in Chile in 1974, but their participation lacked a set of rules to ensure equality. They suffered discrimination in career advancement, salaries and professional opportunities. • Each institution followed its own path, and they offered different opportunities and career conditions.

  15. Policyobjectives: WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (ii) 1. To implement the constitutional principles of equal rights between men and women and equal opportunities in the Defense institutions. 2. To establish specific principles for the participation of women in the armed forces as an integral part of the Defense Policy (“White papers”), in order to ensure a high level recognition of a stable, common, clear and consistent set of rules for all institutions. This allows accountability and public scrutiny. 3. To support the contribution of women in the armed forces, through the selection and recruitment of the most capable people regardless of their sex.

  16. Principles: WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (iii) • Equal opportunities for men and women. • Integrated participation of men and women in all professional activities. • Professional skills as the main criteriae for selection. • Equity in treatment of all • Leadership support to the integration process • Permanent consideration of this integration process in institutional planning.

  17. Comments on policy: WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (iv) • It received an award for public policies, plans and programs with impact on gender equity in Latin America and the Caribbean by the Interamerican Development Bank (October 2005). • Monitoring the implementation and development of new proposals are in charge of a permanent Advisory Committee in the Ministry of Defense. • Available at www.defensa.cl

  18. Army WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (v) • (2003) Women officers can join Support to Combat Arms (Telecommunications, Artillery and Engineers) and have the possibility of becoming Generals. • Women can follow all specialties (Parachutes, Pilots, Mountain experts, etc) according to the Army's needs and requisites, in equal terms with men. • Since 2004 women have been part of the peace operation force in Haiti. • Since 2005, 1000 women volunteers join the Army as conscripts.

  19. Navy WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (vi) Navy • (2003) First women officers in professional services ( Justice and Health) • (2006) First women will be selected to enter the Naval Academy. • (2007) First class integrated by men and women will enter the Naval Academy.

  20. AirForce WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES POLICY (vii) • (2000) The Air Force opens its Academy to women, including all Arms ( Pilots, Engineers and Artillery) and offering the same possibilities for men and women. • (2003) The First class integrated by men and women graduated. A woman cadet graduated at the top of the class. • (2006) First women trained and graduated as combat pilots.

  21. Democratic and Government Parity NEAR FUTURE CHALLENGES (i) • High visibility of women • Different citizen expectations about the government and the President • Democratic parity quotas for parliamentary and municipal elections, no more than • 60% of the list of candidates may be of the same sex. • INCREASE FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN THE WORKFORCE AND CHILDCARE SYSTEM

  22. Wage Gap NEAR FUTURE CHALLENGES (ii) Earnings gap has narrowed in recent years, from 40.6% in 1998 to 35% in 2000. But… Women with up to three years of schooling earn on average 18.6% less than men, while women with 13 years or more of education earn on average 51.5% less than their male peers. The gap increases with age, with education, and with job responsibilities (management positions).

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