As women’s roles expand in Bolivian politics, so do attacks

ACHOCALLA ( Bolivia): Few countries in the world have advanced so quickly toward gender parity in politics as has Bolivia, where women now hold almost half the seats in congress and laws mandate gender equality at lower levels too.

But some male Bolivian politicians have resisted the change, and women’s rights activists report a sharp increase in violence against female politicians as their numbers rise.

Mary de la Cruz, a city councilwoman in a town on the outskirts of La Paz, said the town’s mayor accosted her as she walked with colleagues through a plaza in Achocalla and punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. She said he was apparently angry she had complained of irregularities in public works contracts.

De la Cruz filed a complaint, but so far authorities have taken no action against Mayor Damaso Ninaja, who has denied punching the councilwoman, saying she merely fell.

“It hasn’t been easy for me to get where I am,” said de la Cruz, who complained the mayor also had been spreading false rumours about her sex life. “And the man thinks that we are inferior creatures, that a punch isn’t anything, that’s its normal.”

Bolivia began addressing gender imbalance in politics in 1997 with a law that at least 30% of candidates for many races be women.

Bolivia subsequently refined the laws to guarantee parity.

A decade ago, women held only 4% of posts in municipal assemblies. By 2015, they held 50% – a group that included De la Cruz, 38.

But women’s rising profile “has also led to problems related to discrimination, manipulation and violence,” a report by UN Women said.

Prosecutors say they have received 36 complaints of harassment and political violence against women so far this year. But electoral officials say they’ve received 60 such complaints – six times the number last year. And the Councilwomen’s Association of Bolivia says it has registered 90 complaints.

Some women say they wound up dropping their complaints when a male-dominated legal system showed little interest. — AP