By Wendy Anders

Citizen Action Party (PAC) Legislator Epsy Campbell recently introduced legislation that seeks to further expand the participation of women in governance by establishing quotas.

The law comes after a recent constitutional court ruling that requires political parties to include women in equal numbers on ballots, a measure also supported by Campbell.

The new legislation aims to guarantee women be nominated to half of all government cabinet, agency board, agency leadership, and ministry leadership positions by 2018, thereby incorporating and recognizing, “The effort of hundreds of women in private business, in government administration, and in universities today in Costa Rica,” said Campbell in an interview yesterday.

This she stated, would be done by voting in an amendment to the existing 1991 law promoting women’s social equality.

In 1991, Argentina became the first Latin American country to implement quotas for women’s political participation in national elected positions and has seen a dramatic increase in gender-parity in this realm. Their legislation followed on the heels of similar moves by Scandinavian countries whose political parties adopted gender-parity quotas in the 1980s.

Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance researcher Drude Dahlerup in papers published on their site lays out the pros and cons of such measures. She concludes by saying that, “…rules are not enough. Whether a quota system reaches its objective depends largely on the process of implementation.”

According to Dahlerup, quotas can be favorable in that they avoid gender discrimination and encourage equal opportunity for women; they grant women their political right to equal formal representation; women’s experiences gain greater representation in public life; gender discrimination is made visible and its discussion is made a permanent part of the national political agenda; and the measure can broaden and deepen as well as enhance the quality of democracy.

Arguments against quotas for women in political positions include the following, she continues: There may be other discriminated groups who are politically underrepresented and who may be discriminated against by the group given preferential treatment; quotas go against the principle of equal opportunity for all since they are discriminatory and even technically anti-democratic; candidates’ merits, qualifications and training may be overlooked or seen as secondary; free competition between candidates is undermined; and quotas may end up being window-dressing or symbolic.

Costa Rica’s leader of the Accessibility without Exclusion Party (PASE), Óscar López, said he would “declare war” on the proposed gender-parity legislation, in an interview with Monumental Radio.

Last week, Óscar López used strong language to rail against the Costs Rican Women’s Institute (INAMU) in a legislative session, which the PAC deemed offensive to lesbians. This prompted the PAC to submit a petition to the assembly president calling for respect for human rights, and requesting an immediate prohibition on the use of language in legislative sessions that encourages racism, discrimination, xenofobia and intolerance.”

Quotas for women’s political participation are currently in effect in at least 10 Latin American countries.