Political Empowerment of Afro-Descendent Women

 

For more than 150 million Afro-descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the formal right of political participation is not realised in practice. This situation casts doubt on the quality of democracy in the region. Power structures have blocked representation for millions of Afro-descendants. Especially affected are black women, who face economic and political exclusion on account of both race and gender.

Black women in LAC are deeply excluded. They have to cope with lower levels of education, poorer access to information, and heavier than average workloads. They also face fierce competition for political power from more privileged groups. All this makes black women the most underrepresented group in the ‘democracies’ of the region. As a result, states in LAC tend to marginalise the perspectives of Afro-descendent women and take little account of their needs in the distribution of resources.

Real democracy cannot exist when such a large group, Afro-descendent women, has only minimal representation within structures of power. The right to vote is essential but not sufficient. It must also be ensured that historically excluded groups can occupy positions of real power, have representation in public bodies, and see principles of equality and non-discrimination respected and enforced in practice. There are approximately 4,200 national legislators in Latin America. Around 20 per cent of them are women. Yet people of African descent, who constitute more than a third of the total population of the region, account for only 1 per cent of legislators, and the percentage for black women is still less.

These problems of structural racism and sexism are found in global governance as well. Afro-descendent women have but a small decision-taking role in intergovernmental organisations. Very few black women hold diplomatic, managerial and professional positions in multilateral institutions. Black women from LAC in particular are almost entirely absent in global governance arenas.

The exclusion of Afro-descendent women has significant costs for social justice. Black women in positions of power have a particular way of understanding and making politics. They tend to make more decisions that benefit the community, given their commitment to their roots and the shared history of discrimination. Greater presence of Afro-descendent women in decision-making positions – locally, nationally and internationally – would accelerate development for their communities and families, as well as promote new methods of politics.

The proposal ‘Democracy for Multiculturalism and Parity’ is put forward as a way to overcome the limitations of conventional democracy in the LAC region. This concept is an invitation to rethink democracy and development. It is a human rights approach which accords equality to the many racial, ethnic and cultural groups that have experienced historical discrimination and exclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the process it is necessary to reconsider the traditional idea of the nation as a homogeneous people and instead to recognise that the national population has diverse sectors, all of whom have rights to recognition, respect, voice and influence in the political order. Formal quotas of representation for Afro-descendent women are needed to achieve equitable participation across genders, races and ethnicities.

The proposal ‘Democracy for Multiculturalism and Parity’ therefore calls for fundamental questioning of the political rules in force until now. This vision suggests that democracy must go beyond periodic elections. Real democracy should guarantee equal participation of all people and give new meaning to the exercise of power. This new democracy must have as its overriding goal the common good and unrestricted rights to all the groups in a multicultural society. This proposal calls for a new social contract based on racial and gender equality, the recognition of multiculturalism as a central feature of society, and the core importance of freedom and the search for a common good.

To promote these kinds of alternative visions of democracy it is important that women of African descent mobilise themselves: locally, nationally, regionally and globally. One such support association and exchange space is the Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women. Also important is the Centre for Women of African Descent, based in Costa Rica. Other regional groups link Afro-descendents of all genders, including the Black Parliament of the Americas, the Central American Black Organisation, and the Alliance of Leaders of African Descent in Latin America and the Caribbean. These organisations can and have taken their voice to global arenas, such as the World Conferences on Women, the World Conference against Racism, and United Nations Conferences on Sustainable Development.

Watch video footage of Epsy introducing her paper on 'Including Afro-descent women in global politics' at our international workshop in Rio de Janeiro.

The workshop brought together academics, activitists and policymakers from around the world and generated lively debates and new understanding on how to understand and overcome exclusion.

Read more about:

including the exluded | rio workshop | workshop findings

<< BACK to case studies page                                               NEXT case study >>