The feminist party Estamos listas aspires to get three seats in the Senate during the legislative elections of Sunday, March 13.
by
Their ambition? Enter the Colombian Congress, Sunday, March 13th. Their name ? Estamos listas (“We are ready”). Their logo? An owl, open wings, “symbol of strength and wisdom”, explains Erika Rodriguez, 27, who, Sunday, February 27, distributed leaflets in the center of Bogota. “We have to finish with the machist speech that wants to believe that women are not yet ready to assume certain responsibilities, explains Erika. Our name says our conviction: We are ready to decide, to act and to govern. “First feminist political party of Colombia, Estamos Listtas presents a list of eleven candidates in the Senate.
Thirty-nine million voters are called to the polls to elect a new congress, on March 13th. They will come back on May 19 for the first round of the presidential election. The most optimistic of Estamos Listas activists hope to get 3 of the 116 seats in the Senate. An ambitious figure, since the movement must first pass the threshold of 3% of the votes expressed. “Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, the existence of a feminist political party is the sign that the lines move in Colombia,” considers the feminist lawyer Marta Tamayo.
To believe the numbers, they move slowly. The 2018 legislative elections led 19.7% of women to Congress, a result that places Colombia to more than ten points of the Latin American average, far behind countries like Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina , Chile or Ecuador. The world average is 24.5%, according to the UN. “The patriarchy being what it is, men are not ready to give up the power, recalls Elizabeth Giraldo, head of the list of Estamos Listas. And women tend to believe that they are not able to compete. “
Reflect diversity
The Feminist Party was born in the city of Medellin, the next day of the 2016 peace referendum which saw the victory of the “No”, and complicated the implementation of the agreement signed with the guerrilla of forces Revolutionary armies of Colombia (FARC). In 2018, Estamos Listas carried a seat on the Municipal Council of Medellin.
A peasant leader, a non-binary psychologist, a native, a lesbian, a black lawyer, a biologist, a single mother … The list is a reflection of the diversity of the country. “We are the only political training that has played the game of democracy for the development of our list,” recalls Elizabeth Giraldo. The 1,800 militants of the movement have been associated with the process and will be consulted for all future decisions. The futures elected from Estamos Listas intend to collectively exercise their possible senatorial mandate. And transforming the policy.
You have 58.49% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.