On February 8, Laura Chinchilla was declared winner in the presidential election in Costa Rica, becoming the first female president of the nation and the fifth in Latin America. Winning 47 percent of the votes counted, Chinchilla avoids a potential run-off. In her acceptance speech, Chinchilla said to the gathered crowd:

“Thank you, Costa Rica. It’s certainly a moment of happiness, but above all of humility.”

Chinchilla, a former vice president, follows in the footsteps of female presidents in Chile, Argentina, Panama and Nicaragua. Her victory comes after various efforts in recent years to promote change and increase women’s political representation in the region.

Laura Chinchilla voted first female president of Costa Rica -TimesOnline

Laura Chinchilla to be Costa Rica’s first female leader -BBC

In her keynote address at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast on February 4, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about the current crisis in Haiti, where tent cities, “food lines and makeshift hospitals” are evidence of the urgent needs of millions of people.

“When I think about the horrible catastrophe that has struck Haiti, I am both saddened but also spurred.”

Secretary Clinton went on to say that the people of Haiti will need assistance and committed partners in reconstruction efforts long after the memory of the crisis fades and news cameras move away.

Read Secretary Clinton’s full remarks: Keynote Address at the 58th National Prayer Breakfast - U.S. Department of State

President Evo Morales begun his second term by swearing in Bolivia’s first cabinet to be comprised of an equal number of men and women. Bolivia now joins Chile as the second country in Latin America to have a cabinet with gender parity, reports IPS News. Monica Novillo, head of advocacy and lobbying for the Coordinadora de la Mujer, a Bolivian coalition of more than 200 women’s organizations, told IPS that the swearing in represents the fulfillment of a promise made by Morales following the adoption of a new constitution in February of 2009. The 10 women in the 20-member cabinet include “singers, lawyers, activists and social leaders, economists, doctors and workers.” In his remarks, Morales also noted that Bolivia now has its first female Minister of Labor.

This development is a testament to the effort and “long-time demand[s]” of the women’s movement in Bolivia, says Novillo. The proportion of women representatives in parliament is also far improved, doubling in percentage share from 14 to 28 percent (46 out of 166) of all seats from the previous Congress. When he announced his new cabinet, Morales said “that Bolivian women’s social conscience, patriotism and dedication to defending national interests, as well as the respect he feels for his mother, sister and daughter, were factors in his decision to break with a long history of discrimination against women.”

Bolivia: Unprecedented Gender Parity in Cabinet -IPS News

Among the thousands lost following the devastating earthquake that struck Port Au Prince on January 12 are three renowned women’s rights activists, Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin, and Anne Marie Coriolan. These women, CNN reports, were “founders of three of the country’s most important advocacy organizations working on behalf of women and girls.” Their deaths leave the women’s movement in Haiti in mourning for three remarkable advocates who devoted themselves to furthering women’s rights in their nation.

Myriam Merlet was a published author and dedicated advocate who was “committed to the process of social and political change in Haiti,” according to V-Day, the anti-violence organization founded by Eve Ensler. Merlet worked to introduce the V-Day movement to Haiti, courageously shining a light on gender-based violence and promoting equality for women and girls. As founder of Enfofamn, Merlet raised awareness about women through the media, documenting their stories. She will be remembered for her tireless spirit, poignantly captured in her own words:

“I look at things through the eyes of women, very conscious of the roles, limitations, and stereotypes imposed on us. Everything I do is informed by that consciousness. So I want to get to a different concept and application of power than the one that keeps women from attaining their full potential…The basis of my work with women is to open them up to other things, give them new tools, give them new capabilities…give women the opportunity to grow…”

Magalie Marcelin was an actress and lawyer who founded Kay Famn, a women’s rights organization that provides shelter and offers microloan services to survivors of domestic violence. Marcelin was passionate in her work as an advocate, calling attention to the inequality and prejudice that women face daily in her community. In public awareness-raising campaigns, stickers are marked with the image of a drum, which Marcelin once explained:

“It’s very symbolic in the Haitian cultural imagination. The sound of the drum is the sound of freedom, it’s the sound of slaves breaking with slavery.”

Ann Marie Coriolan served as a top advisor to Haiti’s Ministry for Gender and the Rights of Women and founded advocacy organization Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen (Solidarity with Haitian Women SOFA). As a political organizer, Coriolan was a leader in a movement that “helped bring rape…to the forefront of Haitian courts,” according to CNN. Before her efforts, and those of fellow women’s activists, rape was regarded only as a “crime of passion” in Haiti. Coriolan’s daughter, Wani Thelusmon Coriolan, said of her mother:

“She loved her country. She never stopped believing in Haiti. She said that when you have a dream you have to fight for it. She wanted women to have equal rights. She wanted women to hold their heads high.”

Women’s movement mourns death of 3 Haitian leaders

Danielle Saint-Lot, Vital Voices Network member and co-founder of our chapter in Haiti, Femmes en Democratie, offers her first-hand account of current conditions and calls for assistance in the post below:

The following is a post written by Breese McIlvaine, a former intern with the Vital Voices Latin America & the Caribbean Program.

Small agricultural projects are developing around the world that empower marginalized populations, create livelihoods, improve health, and help the environment.

All around the world, women face societal restrictions that inhibit their social and economic independence and rights. Many traditionally lack the opportunity to create a livelihood of their own, and as a result, rely on male family members or husband. Their dependence on others can make women vulnerable to abuse of all kinds, including verbal, physical, or sexual. They lose their independence and lack equal rights.

Historically, the role of women in many cultures throughout the world has been to tend to the home, but also the garden and the family’s crops. Therefore, developing women’s capacity to sustainably grow their own food and earn an income from the surplus has proved a successful way to alleviate poverty, improve health, and improve women’s self esteem and social status in their communities as they become more independent and confident.

In the provincial town of Natagaima, Colombia, a local NGO called Manos de Mujer (Women’s Hands) started a project in 2001 that engages local women in cultivating plants that are compatible with the local ecosystem using natural techniques without pesticides or weed-killers. The women are diverse – white, mestizo, and Pijao (the indigenous tribe of the region) come from many villages, towns, and Pijao reservations in the area. The region that used to be mostly tropical dry rainforest has over time become increasingly more desert-like due to unsustainable agricultural methods, deforestation, and cattle ranching. The project has not only given the women a livelihood and self-sufficiency they are proud of, it has also helped restore the ecosystem that had been destroyed.

Such projects not only serve to help women in rural areas. Similar projects are undertaken in cities around the world, several in Africa. In Zimbabwe, urban gardens help women and their communities survive while facing increasingly difficult economic, political, and health circumstances. In Ethiopia, a USAID-funded urban garden project works with HIV/AIDS-positive women and their children to help provide them with sustenance, incomes, and to help build and incorporate them in their communities.

Some of the positive effects of small agricultural projects such as these include improving gender equality, poverty alleviation, helping to address health issues such as malnutrition, and restoration of ecosystems. The communities and countries where they take place benefit from the easing of tensions resulting from the problems addressed by the project, and the increased productivity of its population.

“Colombia: Women Empowered by restoring desertified land,” by Helda Martinez.

“POVERTY-ZIMBABWE: Gardening Lifeline for Urban Women,” by Ignatius Banda.

“Beyond Urban Gardens: Meeting The Growing Needs Of Ethiopia’s Urban Population.”

In rural Colombia, indigenous women are engaging in a community effort to restore desertified land, planting ecosystem-friendly seeds and empowering themselves in the process. Manos de Mujer (Women’s Hands) is an NGO that works with over 900 women in the southern province of Tolima, encompassing 56 villages, townships and Pijao native community reservations. Claudina Loaiza left an abusive relationship and settled nine years ago on a small plot of land, which she has since expanded to sustain the growth of various crops, including beans, watermelon, plantain, cassava and corn, all grown without the use of weed killers or chemicals. Loaiza told an IPS News reporter that she works the land using only natural techniques, reviving once-barren and undernourished soil. Women like Loaiza are empowered as they witness the growth of their crops and realize that they are self-sufficient. Loaiza says of the work of the women and its impact:

“What we want to do is build. Not destroy. We need to…revitalize the region.”

Colombia: Women Empowered by Restoring Desertified Land -IPS Newst

Carmen Deere, women’s studies expert and director of the Center for Latin American Studies and the University of Florida, recently spoke with IPS News about the status of women’s rights in Bolivia. Despite the advances for gender equality included in a new constitution, adopted in February, Bolivian women are still faced with a “long journey to secure an influential participation in government,” says Deere. The expert gave an example of women’s restricted role in describing the influence of the Bartolina Sisa National Confederation of Bolivian Peasant Women and the group’s leader, Leonilda Zurita. Even though Zurita and her group played a substantial role in the election and re-election of President Evo Morales, the Bolivian leader has said she now “feels marginalized by the government she helped build.”

Deere says that “women are still not given their place,” adding that barriers persist in preventing women from having full access to decision-making power. Citing one reason for this lack of power, Deere explains her theory on the importance of land rights:

“My theory is that land ownership is an element that facilitates women’s participation, because of the relationship that exists between ownership and power.”

The issue of land rights has long affected Zurita and members of her group, known as the Bartolinas, says Deere. Initially fearful of breaking with tradition and honored customs, the women struggled to assert their equal rights to land. Following participation in the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, Bolivian women initiated a grassroots movement to secure their rights to property.

Deere says that a cultural movement is needed to ensure that women are respected as equals among men in all spheres of public and private life. Only when concerns for human development and equality “permeate everything” will men and women be able “to develop equally as human beings,” says Deere.

Read the full article: Q&A Bolivian Women a Force Behind Power, But Still Powerless - IPS News

By Rene Devis, Heritagekonpa Magazine, Photo by Richarson Dorvil

The seed for the first Haitian Woman’s Business Convention was planted in 2003 to empower and enhance enhance women business owners and their businesses.

The 2009 convention, “Femmes Création et Production ”, provides business opportunities, panel discussions and a business expo to over 500 women from around the country. Convention attendees were also giving hands-on information on how to achieve financial literacy, balance a budget, accountability and means to healthy business choices.

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by Edwin Xol, Coordinator for FAES Network of Central American Grant Recipients

Translated by Daniela Martínez and Libby Mota, Vital Voices Guatemala

Guatemala, October 2009. On October 17, 23 young adults from the departments of Guatemala, Petén, Zacapa, Quiché, San Marcos, Alta Verapaz, and Retalhuleu received their diplomas for the completion of a course in Local Political Leadership. Seven of these participants were emerging women leaders that were empowered and trained to become the next generation of political actors in Guatemala.

This course, which was carried out between June and October 2009 at the Francisco Marroquín University (UFM) campus in Guatemala City, was organized by the Network of Central American Grant Recipients of the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES), by Vital Voices Guatemala, and by UFM’s the Institute for Political Studies and International Relations (EPRI).

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