Medidas corretivas à sub-representaçao das mulheres nos órgãos autárquicos em Cabo Verde (1991-2020) : a Lei de Paridade, nº 68/IX/2019.

Abstract

The present study analyzed the trajectory of Law nº 68/IX/2019 and its impacts on the political under-representation of women in Cape Verdean, specifically in local management, whose time frame extends between 1991 and 2020, on the Island of Santiago in their respective nine municipalities. The dissertation proposal is inserted in feminist studies and in the line of research “Gender, power and public policies”. The theme has opened up a range of reflections on the substantive representation, functioning and quality of democracy in contemporary societies, in addition to contributing to the fields of Political Science, Sociology, Law and Humanities. The literature confirms that the colonial system began in 1460 and lasted until 1975, keeping Cape Verdean and Guinean women in situations of oppression and exploitation. Faced with this condition, these women fought and performed essential functions in favor of emancipation. However, it is clear that after independence, they were made invisible, discriminated against and underrepresented in the spheres of power, especially at the local level. Given this situation, Cape Verdean has been taking steps to promote the representation of women in political affairs and feminist movements committed to advancing access to social justice, with emphasis on the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG) and the Women's Network Parliamentarians Cape Verdeans (RMPCV). Both, together with other organizations, planned the Parity Law, nº 68/IX/2019, whose scope aims to correct the effects triggered by the “glass ceiling”, enhancing the presence of women in eligible places, adjusting social justice and consolidating representative democracy. The specific objectives aim to describe the political movements involved in the planning and implementation of the legislation and the analysis of the Law in terms of the theoretical structure of the conception and the normative guidelines. The contributions of the Law of Parity in the municipal bodies of the island of Santiago are verified based on the categories of gender and party membership. Finally, the potentialities and obstacles faced in the application of the Law are analyzed. The methodology used in this work is deductive and based on data triangulation, with emphasis on the documentary corpus. The question of this investigation is “The Parity Law nº 68/IX/2019 corrected the political underrepresentation of women in municipal bodies on the island of Santiago?”. Describing and analyzing the situation of female under-representation in Cabo Verdean municipal level requires an approximation with a methodological approach that would make it possible to present the issue-problem, both in terms of quantity, whether from the point of view of the objectives, or in the detailed description regarding technical and bibliographic procedures for literature review. For geographic delimitation and a more in-depth approach, the methodological procedure will focus on the Island of Santiago in terms of its social, historical and political characteristics and particularities. In addition to the aforementioned research methods and techniques, the paradigm of intersectionality is delimited in order to highlight the quantitative impacts of elected officials considering the category of gender and party membership. It is concluded that the Parity Threshold goal was achieved in the analyzed election, promoting an increase in the political presence of women. However, female political under-representation in municipal bodies on the island of Santiago still persists, conditioned by the hierarchical bottleneck and shows that Law nº 68/IX/2019 needs revisions with regard to the fixed rate, in the application methods. Electoral justice, as well as the legislation of the Electoral Code, contribute to gender equality and parity, in addition to the achievement of local and national democracy.