According to a study called “More Women, More Democracy; Challenges for Gender Equality in Politics”, the Dominican Republic is among the countries with the lowest representation of women at the ministerial level and in 2017, was the fifth lowest country in the region with women only holding 17.3% of the ministerial positions with the regional average being 24.55%.
Nicaragua is the country with the highest representation of female ministers at 51.7 %, followed by Chile with 39.1%; Costa Rica with 38.1%, Colombia with 29.4%; Bolivia 29.2%; Ecuador 27.8%; Peru 27.4%; Paraguay 25%; Cuba 25%; Panama 23.5%; El Salvador 23.1%; Uruguay 20%; Argentina 19% and Brazil 18.2%.
They are followed by the Dominican Republic at 17.3%, Venezuela 16.3%; Mexico 13.6%; Guatemala 11.8% and Honduras con 11.1%.
In the country there are 23 ministries with only four female ministers in 2017 and this year it has dropped to three, which are Higher Education, Science and Technology, Youth and Women. In 2017 looking at deputy ministers, there were 25.78% women and 74.21% men.
In the decentralized state institutions, 13.68% were run by women and 86.31% men.
There is a similar situation with overseas Dominican ambassadors with only 18.18% being women.
The study concludes that women are under-represented in all senior political positions despite the equality established in the Dominican Constitution, and the objectives of the 2030 National Development Strategy and international agreements.
In the Dominican Republic, the two ministers are Minister of Women Janet Camilo and Minister of Superior Education Alejandrina German.
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Diario Libre
5 June 2018
