How does 2018 end for women in Latinamerica?

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2018 is about to finish. We review some key moments in the women's movement in Latin America

There is no doubt that 2018 was a great year for the struggle for human rights in the world. Amnesty International highlights the participation of women in the struggle for respect and equality. Thus, the report called Rights Today highlights that "Although for human rights, the struggle of women is an important advance; The truth is that their dignity is violated by many governments in the world." This struggle also went back to Latin America, as several women made their voices heard this year.

Leer en español: ¿Cómo termina el 2018 para las mujeres en Latinoamérica?

The abortion

This is one of the most controversial issues around the world, and this year it could be discussed in different Latin American countries. In Argentina, for example, the Chamber of Deputies proposed a project decriminalizing the interruption of pregnancy until week 14, as reported by France24.
However, despite the fact that the debate lasted about 5 months and thousands of women took to the streets to protest, becoming known as "La Marea Verde", the law remained the same, in which abortion is only allowed in two specific cases: health risk for the woman or rape.
According to the BBC, reasons such as religion, representativeness in the government, and a conservative society were triggers for the proposal not to pass. However, the commotion and the importance with which the issue was handled were sufficient so that, in 2019, they could put the proposal back on the table and hopefully it could be modified.

On the other hand, in Colombia and according to El Tiempo, a guardianship was made to request limiting the weeks in which a woman could have an abortion. Faced with this, several women marched to the Plaza de Bolívar. In the end, the request was denied. In this way, the Constitutional Court established that a limit cannot be set when it is desired to terminate the pregnancy within the possible causes.

Finally, in Mexico, the Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (Morena) presented a bill that would allow decriminalizing abortion throughout the country up to 12 weeks of gestation. It should be noted that abortion in Mexico is only legal in the whole country if it is a product of rape. According to El País, in 25 of the 32 states it is legal to practice it if the mother is in danger. Only in Mexico City is admitted by a decision of the mother.
The project was presented on December 21, and "obtained a favorable opinion from the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies," according to Aciprensa. Although several of the opposition denounced irregularities in front of the approval of this bill.

You may be interested in reading: Witches in the 21st century: A story of feminist resistance and struggle

Political participation

There is no doubt that this year was characterized by high female participation. According to UN women within the 10 countries with more female political participation are Cuba (53.2%), Bolivia (53.1%), Mexico (48.2%), Nicaragua (45.7%) and Costa Rica (45.6%).
In addition to this, several Latin American women obtained important positions within the cabinets of the new presidents. In Colombia and Costa Rica, two women hold the second most important position in a country: the vice president. Added to this, and with the start of the López Obrador government, Claudia Sheinbaum became the first woman to be elected head of government in Mexico City.
During the November legislative elections in the United States, not only women stole the show; the fact that they were Latinas surprised more in the results of the elections. In this way, 113 representatives were able to occupy a seat within the US government. It was not only gain for Latinas, because the LGTBI community, of African descent and indigenous people also made history.

#MeToo
One of the most important social denunciations of this year, awarded to Tarana Burke but popularized by the actress Alyssa Milano and around the scandal of Harvey Weinstein, dominated the struggle of women.
The movement was not only restricted to Hollywood scandals but moved to different scenes. In politics, for example, Brett Kavanaugh was accused of raping a college classmate when they were at a party. The victim reported that at that time Kavanaugh was in a drunken state.

At that time, the government of the United States was conducting the voting so that Kavanaugh was a Supreme Court magistrate. Thanks to the intervention of the Colombian Ana María Archila, the case temporarily took another direction until a final decision was made.
Since then, several women have decided to tell their story and reveal the perpetrators of the rape. This is how in several countries, one of them is Argentina, several senators were charged with sexual abuse.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "¿Cómo termina el 2018 para las mujeres en Latinoamérica?"