Political history is being witnessed in Paraguay, as for the first time a woman is running for president. IPS reported that, Blanca Ovelar, a school teacher and former Education Minister, is running for president under the Colorado Party, and 2nd in the polls. There are split opinions amongst the female community to how monumental this moment is. Or is this really a giant step forward for women in Paraguay, is this going to affect the lives of women? Does her presence open the door for an equal opportunity for woman in politics? I guess as Americans we can ask ourselves the same question in regards to Hilary Clinton.
We can start analyzing the first question, how monumental is her presidency (?), by looking at womens current political presence in Paraguay. IPS reported that according to the Office of Statistics, Surveys and Censuses that, although they make up about half of the population in Paraguay (49%) “ they hold barely 10 percent of the seats in Congress and the Cabinet, one of the lowest rates in Latin America.”
When analyzing those statistics above, it is a monumental moment for women to have a woman running for president, when there are barely any women holding political positions there. 10% is barely having any power or influence. However, Line Bareiro, a political scientist, told IPS that, “Ovelar’s candidacy is a great step forward, arising from women’s struggle over decades to gain access to political power.” Graziella Corvalán, a member of the Coordination of Paraguayan Women (CMP), added, “that although Ovelar is not a standard-bearer for women’s causes, her candidacy is an advance.”
The fact that Ovelar is not a woman’s right activist has many womens’ organizations claiming that she is just another candidate. They claim that she “was nominated because the Colorados want to stay in power rather than because they are taking gender issues seriously.” The issue with the political party is that the Colorado Party has had their presidential nominee hold power for 61 years. Therefore, many organizations feel that her presidency represents ” 60 years of poverty and injustice.” Lilian Soto, a political science said that Ovelar, “is a person whom a certain power group finds useful for their own ends, and I don’t think she’s really interested in defending women’s rights.” Another comment was made by a member of Parlamento Mujer (forum to empower women and increase their access to the structures of political power), Angélica Cano, “When a political project has run out of male representatives that can sustain it, it calls in a woman to legitimise a model that is already obsolete. The contribution of women should be to improve the political sphere, it’s important to know whether she is going to defend issues that are sensitive for women, because what’s happened to many women who have gone into politics could also happen to her: they don’t know whether they’re defending their gender or their party.”
The comment made above is and extremely good point, and a realistic one. With Hilary Clinton, who is the first woman in the US with a realistic chance at obtaining the presidency, her platform does not really include gender issues. Most of her platform consists democratic views, which do help some women (poor) but not specifically aimed at bettering the lives of woman. Although, I should note before I get criticized heavily that women do have it better here than in Paraguay, however, equality on many levels is still in a slow process of progress. Woman are slowly progressing and as for me not at a fast enough pace ( I will stop here before I have a essay on womens’ issues in the US).
Ovelar is quite confident in her ability to win for she says, “I will be the first woman president of Paraguay, breaking with the machista tradition.” She then stated that she represents “true change, because of [her] public service record, and because I am a woman.” She went on to say, “being on the left or on the right is no longer relevant from an ideological point of view,” although she said she is in favour of “a free-market democracy with an active state to direct the country and protect the poor.”
April 30, when the elections are held will determine how monumental her presidential nominee is. If she wins could just mean another face under the same ‘regime’. Or it can turn for the better and she can really have an impact on the lives of the women in her country. I will be keeping a eye on the events and be interested to see how she handles the presidency if she gains power. I hope she will empower woman, and prove that she is not just another face under the same ‘regime’.