“…renewal implies opening up more paths for women and young women — especially in politics, so they fall in love with politics and find it a space where, besides being politicians, they can find fulfillment in other aspects of their lives.” - Mónica Xavier

iKNOW Politics: What challenges have you faced as a woman in leadership positions, first as a two-term elected Senator in Uruguay and now as the first Latin American congresswoman to serve as president of the steering committee for the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s meeting of women parliamentarians? Have your background and experience in leadership positions helped in this process? How?

The greatest challenge is for us to make proposals that everyone, men and women, will listen to. Because women in politics have two challenges: politics of presence, but also politics of proposals, in which we turn all the issues about which we speak into cross-cutting issues, with a gender approach.

I am serving a second term as a senator, and I really think that in my country, with this government, the issue of gender is taking root in institutions. In March 2005, Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, the candidate of the leftist coalition Encuentro Progresista-Frente Amplio-Nueva Mayoría, became president of Uruguay. At that moment, steps were taken to start making equality a basic parameter of politics. Women, who are under-represented in the Uruguayan Parliament (we hold between 11 and 12 percent of seats, depending on whether you count those who are active or those who were elected) have had to use a series of strategies to validate and legitimate our presence, and be effective although we are few.

I have a long political career behind me — a whole lifetime of political activity. I come from a family in which my father was also active in politics, with experience during the years of the Uruguayan dictatorship and, later, after the return to democracy. The Uruguayan dictatorship gave us the chance to undergo more difficult tests of our political commitment.

iKNOW Politics: Some organizations are analyzing why the percentages of women re-elected to political office are qualitatively lower than those of men. You are a female politician who not only ran for re-election, but also won. What is your opinion of the statistics that show such low re-election rates for women? What explanation can you suggest for this phenomenon?

Yes, I believe it is a problem. Not enough time has passed yet to be able to assess not only the progress, the advances in the content of women’s proposals, but also women’s staying power as political leaders in the region. Perhaps these past few years have been a period of stability, in which women have remained in decision-making spheres, which will enable us to evaluate best practices and areas for improvement.

It is much easier to evaluate the role of women in various spheres of political activity in countries that have had a significant, stable rate of women’s representation for a long time. For us, the lack of continuity, and even backsliding, makes it difficult to fully assess how women change the political and party agendas. One important element is that without staying forever in the positions we reach, we must achieve continuity and renewal.

This renewal implies opening up more paths for women and young women — especially — in politics, so they fall in love with politics and find it a space where, besides being politicians, they can find fulfillment in other aspects of their lives. I don’t decide on my own to run for another term. It is my party’s congress that chooses candidates and then presents voters with a closed list that includes both men and women. Both candidacies and list position are defined internally by the party to which I belong.

There is one point that should not be overlooked: I believe that we women must continue to be what we were before we reached a particular office. Men, too, of course. But when we enter such as masculinized space, we run the risk of adopting behaviours and work styles that we criticized before we were elected. We have to be prepared, so that apart from the obstacles we encounter in the arena in which we are working, we maintain our styles, trying to change the situation and not allowing the situation to change us.

In my case, I have kept my profession, which could also be my livelihood. I am a cardiologist, and I continue to practice, although obviously on a very small scale, since I have little time to devote to it each week. But this is a sign to citizens; a clear message that I think is worth highlighting: You live for politics; you don’t make a living from politics, especially at a time when politics has little prestige in the world. Of course, I am also a homemaker, a head of household, and I perform everyday activities in my home.

iKNOW Politics: What is the current state of women’s political participation in Uruguay, both in political parties and in state powers?

I always say that the first obstacles to political involvement that women encounter in my country are the political parties, which do not offer “habitable” places. It is not just a matter of our occupying positions in spheres of power and decision making — something we have not done sufficiently.

We also have to achieve the equilibrium that allows men to occupy positions that have to do with matters related to the family and the home. This will allow women to stop bearing, exclusively, double responsibilities on our shoulders. There has to be a better distribution of roles, and we must not continue to perpetuate the roles of women as reproducers and men as producers. In this regard, I believe that political parties in Uruguay need a huge transformation.

I belong to the Partido Socialista, which has a 15-year-old affirmative action policy, and this has been very clear during this administration, in which we are part of the governing coalition. The largest number of women in positions of responsibility is from my party, and in roles that are not traditional: the outgoing Minister of Defence, a woman from my party; the current Minister of the Interior, a woman from my party; and I am one of four senators.

The Partido Socialista has a higher rate of women’s representation on candidate lists than the other political parties. If there were effective affirmative measures in all political parties, we would not face the painful fact that, for the first time since the return to democracy, women’s participation in Parliament has lost ground, not just quantitatively but also qualitatively.

Of the three parties that had women representatives in Parliament, only two remain. In recent years, there has been much discussion about the role that society and non-governmental organizations should play in advancing on issues related to equality and equal opportunity. I believe we have ignored the responsibility of political parties. Fortunately, we are now changing that and understanding that we all have a role to play: civil society, state powers, political parties, institutions. In Uruguay, political parties are very strong. For that reason, except during the dictatorship, democracy has been very stable.

If a real transformation does not come about through them, then the process will be very difficult. Currently, in the national or municipal parliament, women candidates are mainly substitutes. The men who are titular candidates allow women in on 8 March, but nothing more. In the executive branch, we have had long periods when there has been a total absence of women. Nevertheless, in this administration 30 percent of the positions of responsibility are held by women. This has already had a great impact.

It shows, with complete transparency, that when there is political will, institutions are transformed. Political parties have not shown willingness to make room for women. Nevertheless, the president, Dr. Tabaré Vázquez, who is the one responsible for designating the Cabinet, has done so. It is obvious that we always aspire to more, we would have liked to see parity in the Cabinet, but we must recognise that what we have now has never occurred before in the history of the country.

iKNOW Politics: Despite its small number of members, the Uruguayan bicameral women’s caucus has achieved significant results. What are the conditions necessary for a women’s parliamentary caucus to achieve concrete results in progress for women?

We have eight years of experience in developing initiatives in the Gender Equality Commission, the Chamber of Deputies and the bicameral women’s caucus. These are fairly new experiences, but very positive. We have made progress and found solutions for women. We women parliamentarians have engaged in a long work process.

First, bringing together all women with gender sensitivity, and defining strategies in which we emphasise the things that unite us. That does not mean excluding the things that do not unite us; it means saying that we’re going to work in a certain way on a certain issue and we’re going to do it together, because that has a different impact on society. When citizens see that we can rise above ideological differences — which we obviously have, and no one renounces them — and work on other issues on which we agree, then we have strength. For example, we are all working together on the issue of domestic violence, gender violence.

We put these debates on the agenda as a united front. Of course, not all women are willing to vote for the Political Participation Law, which we introduced in March 2007, and which could come up for debate this year in one of the specialised Senate commissions. The goal is to make the 70-30 proportion a requirement in all bodies, political parties and areas of public representation. There are women who have not agreed to vote for it, so we have to discuss it.

There are some men who are allied with us, who believe, like we do, that it is important to have laws for equal opportunity and women’s access to political arenas. We need to keep working to build strong consensus among women parliamentarians. There also is no consensus among women parliamentarians on the draft law on sexual and reproductive rights, which includes a chapter about a regulation that would modify what in Uruguay is the crime of abortion, decriminalising it under certain circumstances — and we may not all vote the same way. The fact that we are women does not automatically translate into agreement on the various points that we have historically demanded.

iKNOW Politics: Gender quotas or quota laws have been a very positive mechanism for women in politics in many parts of the world. Uruguay has no quota law. Based on your experience, and your opinion, do you believe such a law is necessary?

It is very necessary, and I have great expectations that the Senate will quickly debate and approve this law, which, as I mentioned earlier, would ensure a 70-30 relationship. It will then have to go to the second chamber. In our country, laws of this sort need special majorities for certain articles, because they modify the electoral law.

I am convinced that there are a very few countries that, because they have reached a different level or have a different history (Finland, Denmark, Cuba), can ensure equitable participation for women in politics without the need for quotas. But in the rest of the world’s countries, in countries where women have attained a significant percentage of representation in parliament, this has been done through affirmative action measures and quotas.

In addition, in Uruguay both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its optional protocol have been approved with no reservations. We therefore have a legal mandate to translate them into national laws and regulations.

iKNOW Politics: Based on your experience, what do you believe are the best strategies for including men in processes for promoting gender equality, especially in political participation?

There are many men who don’t need to be convinced. They understand very clearly that we women don’t want involvement for the sake of involvement, but because democracies are stronger when women — who represent 52 percent of the population — are elected directly by voters and not simply represented by men. We still have to debate this with other men, and it is clearly a struggle for power.

So we must work not only to make room, but also to hold onto it, and I believe this is done with ideological debate. This is a deeply ideological issue, not necessarily a partisan one, and it is important not to confuse those things.

iKNOW Politics: What kind of influence have networks and networking had on your career? Do you believe they are useful? What do you think of the iKNOW Politics initiative?

They are vital. There is no progress if we do not weave networks of solidarity, information and support among women. They are necessary if we are to be informed, have formation, arrive and remain in the political arena. I believe that the initiative of the five organisations that founded iKNOW Politics provides us with a tool that must be disseminated, so it gets adequate use and we can all win with the tools provided by iKNOW Politics.

iKNOW Politics: What advice would you give to young women who are interested in getting involved in politics, but who feel it is a distant world that is beyond their reach?

Easy things take no effort; difficult things take effort, but they are worth it, because from political decision-making positions it is possible to transform situations. I am a doctor, and by working in my profession I can extend people’s lives, but I cannot give them happiness. In politics, however, it is possible to transform people’s lives and make them happier.

iKNOW Politics: One final comment with regard to your role in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which is about to end. How would you like to be remembered? What kind of precedent do you think you have set?

There are few opportunities for one to work for two years, in an environment like this, which has a worldwide scope. So I would like all of the women who participated in the various activities over which I presided to remember me as the person who always allowed them to express themselves.

I believe that by listening and creating possibilities for dialogue in these spaces in which women from very different cultures and situations meet, we understand one another better, build relationships and implement processes. Without understanding and dialogue, we cannot move ahead on fundamental issues: peace in the world, better sharing of knowledge and technology, proposing better and more equitable conditions for cooperation. We women have a very important role to play in contributing to dialogue and understanding in the world. I would like to be remembered that way, as someone who never closed off the possibility of sharing views.