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Number of Female Judges in the Region's Courts doubles in a Decade

judges
Photo: Federico Vélez/EFE

Women's participation in the highest courts of law has doubled over the past 10 years in Latin America. Although the judiciary is a mainly masculine sphere, between 2001 and 2011 the average number of female judges went from 10% to 22.6%, according to data in the latest report from the Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean: Cash transfers under the spotlight: contribution and burden for women (in Spanish only), which includes information from all Ibero-American countries. The study was published in March and coordinated by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

In half of Latin American countries, the presence of women in the highest court of law is above the regional average of 22.6%. This applies to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (44%), Puerto Rico (43%), Costa Rica (35%), El Salvador (33%), Colombia (30%), Nicaragua (29%), Dominican Republic (27%), Cuba (27%) and Chile (25%).

In Caribbean countries, parity has often been achieved and then exceeded, with percentages ranging from 30% to 60% of women in the highest court of law.

The increase in women within the judiciary goes hand in hand with a similar expansion across the executive and the legislature, as well as in other decision-making spheres. Women's participation in the legislature has increased in almost all of the region's countries over the past 20 years, which is largely thanks to quota laws.

In terms of the executive, the last six years have seen six women elected as Presidents in Latin American and Caribbean countries. According to information available in December 2011, the Latin American countries with the greatest female presence are Nicaragua (where the cabinet is 55.6% female); Bolivia, with 39.1%; Ecuador, with 38.6%; Costa Rica, with 35.7%; and Colombia, with 30.8%. There has been a rise in women's participation in ministerial cabinets in 10 countries, and a reduction in seven countries.

In the Caribbean, the proportion of female ministers has fallen in eight countries over the last two terms of office. Saint Lucia is the only country to have increased its female ministers, while the percentage has remained more or less stable in Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

In most cases, women hold cabinet positions in social and cultural areas, and to a lesser extent in political and economic ministries. Far from changing in the last two presidential terms, this distribution is becoming even more pronounced.

In Latin America, the penultimate presidential term thus saw 47% of female ministers responsible for social and cultural matters, which rose to 55% during the most recent period (up to 2011).

In terms of local politics, although the proportion of female mayors has increased in recent years, the percentage is only just above 10%. In councils, on the other hand, women's participation stands at 22%, which represents an increase of almost 10% in 10 years.

While women's presence in decision-making is increasingly legitimized in the region's countries, it should be pointed out that women's average regional participation is less than 25% in the branches of government described above – which demonstrates that progress remains slow in many countries.


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In half of Latin American countries, the presence of women in the highest court of law is above the regional average of 22.6%.
 
In terms of the executive, the last six years have seen six women elected as Presidents in Latin American and Caribbean countries.