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Reporting to the DESC Committee

In collaboration with other civil society organizations, we made several reports to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (DESC) for its session No. 64. Through them we intend to bring critical observations and recommendations on issues related to DESC that have been part of the work agenda of our organization, and so give an update of the report presented at the instance of sessions of the Preparatory Working Group, in 2017.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

Argentina has ratified the International Covenant on Economic and Cultural Rights (PIDESC), committing itself to comply with the obligations derived from this pact. The ICESCR, like other human rights treaties, establishes a set for monitoring its level of compliance: the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). In this sense, the Supreme Court has recognized this committee as an “authorized interpreter” of the Covenant, which sometimes has a constitutional hierarchy.
The monitoring mechanism established in the same includes, in turn, the possibility of participating in civil society in different stages, through the presentation of reports: the Committee receives reports from the State as well as from civil society and evaluates them, for Then issue your Final observations. The importance of these observations is that they are used as tools to demand compliance with human rights standards in the matter of ESCR.
In this context, we have presented several reports that warn about the situations of rights being affected in different areas.

Health:

  • Situation of chronic noncommunicable diseases in Argentina:

We recommend urging the State to adopt some measures to reduce the consumption of tobacco products and unhealthy foods.

Among them, the limitation of advertising aimed at children, the adoption of a more simple and understandable nutrition labeling, the raising of taxes, the ratification by the Argentine State of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the adoption of measures that protect especially vulnerable groups.

  • Current situation regarding marketing practices of milk formulas:

In this regard, we recommend urge the Argentine government to regulate and restrict the marketing strategies of formulas of breast milk, to continue to promote breastfeeding beyond awareness campaigns, to prevent interference from industry processes related to the field of public health and to promote transparency in the sponsorship of academic events and research.

  • Situation of the regulations of geriatric residences:

We recommend the enactment of a national law that establishes minimum budgets to be guaranteed in all nursing homes in the country, in accordance with the rights and paradigm established in the Inter-American Convention for the Protection of Older Persons, as well as local laws that accept this paradigm. Likewise, it is recommended to urge the Argentine State to publicize the data related to the authorizations and controls of said residences.

  • Lack of access to sexual and reproductive rights:

The situation of low access to contraceptives and abortion practices is worrisome in cases allowed by law. We recommend then to urge the State to provide the necessary supplies to comply with sexual and reproductive rights, as well as to ensure that conscientious objection does not impede access to them. Finally, we recommend urging the State to train health professionals, in accordance with the international standards set by WHO for access to safe abortion, and the promotion of legislative discussion for the legalization of abortion.

Democracy

  • Current situation of the Ombudsman’s Office:

This institution continues to abide by it for 11 years, which is configured as a weakening of the DESC protection system. In this regard, we have recommended, among other things, to designate as soon as possible a person in charge of the Office of the Ombudsman of the Nation and to reformulate the procedures for selecting it.

  • Access to public information on environmental matters:

We recommend that the Committee urge the State to guarantee access to public information on environmental matters in view of the progress of major infrastructure projects, extractive industries and Chinese investments; promoting the creation of instances and / or mechanisms of citizen participation. In addition to promoting the protection of those who defend their rights and oppose the advancement of large infrastructure projects.

  • Draft Bill of Collective Proceedings:

We recommend that the State abstain from promoting the Draft Bill of collective actions before the National Congress and promote a regulation that conforms to current international and constitutional standards in terms of access to justice and effective judicial protection of groups in vulnerable situations.

Ambient

  • Use and application of agrochemicals:

We warn about the effects on the right to health derived from the use of agrochemicals; recommending the adoption of a national regulation that regulates the use and application of agrochemicals and requesting the revision and adaptation of national and provincial regulations to the new categories established by the WHO regarding the classification of phytosanitary products. In addition, the adoption of measures to minimize the impact of the use of agrochemicals and periodic epidemiological evaluations is recommended.

More Information

Contacts

Agustina Mozzoni: agustinamozzoni@fundeps.org

Carolina Tamagnini: carotamagnini@fundeps.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the interior of Córdoba there is also talk of communication

From September 3 to 5, the XXth Congress of REDCOM and the First Latin American Communication Congress of the UNVM took place at the National University of Villa María. “Communications, powers and technologies: from local territories to global territories”. From FUNDEPS we present a paper giving an account of the data obtained in our research on the participation of women in the media in their areas of work.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The 20th REDCOM Congress is a space built to integrate the Latin American perspective into academic, social and political debates on communication, promote the dialogue of the different spaces in the construction of the human right to communication, and deepen each dimension thematic through the diversification of means for their expression, among others.

In this framework, we present the results obtained in the research carried out together with the Civil Association Communication for Equality, “Media and gender organizations: Equality of opportunities for women and LGTTBIQ + people in companies, unions and universities.” The main objective of this report was to investigate access to equal opportunities for women and the LGTTBIQ + community in the work environments of the media.

Inequalities in access to employment opportunities, from a gender perspective, have multiple causes, and require the implementation of social, cultural and political change mechanisms for their real prevention and eradication.

But in certain areas, inequality also has other consequences, such as in the field of communication. If we understand the media as opinion and socio-cultural values ​​educators, the lack or little representation of the various groups of our society, also leads to such unequal representation is reflected in the media content, reproducing the same values ​​that give place to discrimination.

In this sense, in order to achieve a real and democratic representation of the voices of the whole society in the media (recognizing them as agents of opinion) it is necessary to begin to combat inequalities in access to job opportunities and professional development of all people, with a focus on women, the LGBTTIQ + community, and on historically violated groups. We celebrate the space granted by UNVM and REDCOM, to the academic community and to civil society organizations, to discuss and make visible the needs of building communication in our country from an inclusive perspective, gender and human rights.-

Contact

Virginia Pedraza

vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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The fight continues: What # 8A left us

# 8A is the corollary of a long road, full of achievements but also of obstacles. With 38 votes against, 31 in favor, 2 abstentions and 1 absence, the Chamber of Senators, reviewer of the bill of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy, rejected the average sanction from Deputies after the marathon session of 13 and 14 of June.

More than 1 and a half million people populated the Plaza del Congreso in Buenos Aires and some 25,000 were in the vigil on the Yrigoyen diagonal of the city of Córdoba. The streets were filled with green once more: songs, hugs, emotions of a multitude of activists who waited expectantly for the result of the vote, but who were also there to give a message to the Senate: let it be law.

The project in question

Durante la última sesión del Plenario de las tres comisiones (Salud, Asuntos Constitucionales y Justicia y Asuntos Penales), los sectores a favor de la legalización buscaron que el proyecto modificado consiguiera la mayoría para obtener dictamen. Se trataba del proyecto que nació como “la opción Córdoba” propuesta por la senadora Laura Rodríguez Machado (PRO), y los senadores Ernesto Martínez (UCR) y Carlos Caserio (PJ). Esta propuesta luego fue respaldada por Miguel Pichetto y el Bloque del PJ, y se convirtió en la alternativa para juntar voluntades y evitar el rechazo total.

El proyecto con modificaciones proponía algunos cambios como bajar de 14 a 12 semanas, eliminar el delito que castigaba a médicos/as que se nieguen a practicar abortos, y dar lugar a la objeción de conciencia institucional para clínicas confesionales, entre otros. Este dictamen finalmente no logró la mayoría necesaria y la Cámara de Senadores/as trabajó con el proyecto de ley de IVE sin modificaciones, es decir, tal como había salido de la Cámara Baja.

En la previa a la votación, hubo varios indicios del resultado final por el rechazo total: al poroteo que ya sumaba 36 votos en contra se sumaron el cambio de voto de la senadora Larraburu días antes de la votación y la repentina definición por el rechazo del senador tucumano Alperovich. La Legislatura de Tucumán había decidido días antes declararse “Pro Vida”.

Las mujeres se siguen muriendo

On August 4, the death of Liliana Herrera was known in a hospital in Santiago del Estero, as a result of an intrauterine hemorrhage resulting from a clandestine abortion. He was 22 years old and had two daughters, 3 and 6 years old. However, this situation did not reverse the vote of the three senators from Santiago: the three votes were negative.

The day before the debate was announced another tragedy: a woman in Mendoza, mother of 5 children, is hospitalized with an induced coma after a 3-day haemorrhage for a clandestine abortion. Senator Pamela Verasay from Mendoza recalled them in her speech and said: “I ask all senators to open their hearts, women are dying. Do not speak for us, speak for future generations. ”

Even in a conjuncture that shows the public health problems that clandestine abortion represents, the rejection of the bill took precedence without proposing an alternative aimed at resolving the problem or the root causes of unwanted pregnancies.

A debate full of tensions

During the day several issues arose that attracted attention. On the one hand, alternative and self-managing means were not allowed to be present and to do journalistic coverage from the premises. Rejecting your accreditation in an arbitrary and clearly discriminatory manner is a serious act against freedom of expression. In the name of formal rigor, access was also denied to several deputies who, weeks before and as a result of their initiative, obtained the average sanction. The same happened with Nora Cortiñas, a reference for the struggle for Memory, Truth and Justice.

There were also moments of tension between the president of the Senate at the time of moderating the exhibitions. On the one hand, we tried to hurry the times of the discussion, arguing security issues that should be provided from the Ministry of Security. Being the responsibility of the Executive Branch to guarantee the conditions so that the debate can develop normally, the pressure for “hour” and “security” issues show the interference of this power in legislative matters. On the other hand, it was generally allowed to extend its expositions to people who spoke against the bill, while the opposite occurred with those who gave arguments in favor, emphasizing the rules of the debate, regardless of the party they belonged to. the exhibitors.

In the Middle Ages we do not return

Frente a exposiciones plagadas de argumentos falaces y vetustos que dejaron mucho que desear para un parlamento en el año 2018, la claridad y altura de los/as senadores/as comprometidos/as con los derechos de las mujeres fueron esperanzadoras, y sientan las bases para seguir argumentando a favor de la ampliación de derechos.

“With the law, abortions will be cared for, with pills and in health services. Without law, abortions will continue to be clandestine, surgical and risky “sentenced Chaqueña Senator María Inés Pilatti Vergara. And he closed with the reading of a letter from a Cordovan father to his feminist daughter: “I hope you are never at the crossroads of having to decide to have an abortion. I wish (you, all) never have to even think about it. But if by the vicissitudes or the damn turns of life you’re ever in that place and you decide to have an abortion, I’ll fight to have it in the hospital, taken care of, contained and embraced, with ultrasounds, controls and pills. ”

Senator Mirkin, the only legislator from Tucumán who voted in favor of the project, was also forceful in her presentation. “I was voted to legislate and the law is not stony, the law can be changed, it can be improved and thus improve the living conditions of the citizens,” he said.

The intervention of some men attracted attention. For his part, the senator from Chubut, Alfredo Luenzo, said that we are facing “a patriarchal society” and that “we are sexist in recovery.” “When a woman chooses not to be a mother in a difficult and very personal decision, there is no law, state, ethics, nothing to stop her, and we are witnessing that reality,” he concluded.

The Cordovan senator Ernesto Martinez was very clear about the separation that this debate should have of all religious dye. “This is the Argentine Criminal Code. It is neither the Bible, nor the Torah, nor the Koran, nor the Talmud … The fanatics confuse sin with crime “[…] The Penal Code that seeks to modify is the will of the secular legislator who watches over the common good that is not never owned by a single sector, “he said, after making an ironic reference to the words of Buenos Aires archbishop Mario Poli.

The last to speak was Senator Luis Naidenoff, from the province of Formosa, who presides over the Interbloque de Cambiemos. “Abortion is an unwanted situation. The punitive road failed miserably and deepened the underground. Every avoidable death, when the State can intervene, mobilizes us “established. And he concluded: “There is nothing more unworthy than to look to the side and do absolutely nothing […] Those we support know that the State must take charge. The rejection of the law is to look to the side.”

And now, how do we continue?

The rejection of the project is a parliamentary and political decision that does not delegitimize the gains of the feminist movement and especially that does not eliminate the 354,627 abortions that are performed per year, the 41 abortions per hour, nor the 43 women who died during 2017 product of clandestine abortions. By force of militancy, occupation of public space, legislative alliances, digital campaigns and committed journalism, the feminist movement managed to install itself in the national, regional and international agenda. The world echoed our demand and women from various countries, recorded accompaniment videos to the fight for abortion in Argentina, organized marches and rallies in parallel on Wednesday, August 8 in different parts of the world.

The debate about the legal interruption of pregnancy managed to cross the social fabric and break partisan, religious and interest barriers. The map of bridges between lawmakers of antagonistic party forces, meetings between deputies who had never spoken before, alliances and complicities between journalists, militants, employees of Congress, press advisors and each person involved , reevaluated the role of grassroots militancy and dialogue and consensus as useful tools for policy making. The micro-lobbying in each house, the chat with friends, the attempt to “convince” family members, the talks at the table, the circulation of messages in groups via WhatsApp show how the legislative architecture is being put together so that ” be law “be possible. And it is possible because we will continue fighting for it.

But yesterday this immense force failed to bring down one of the most installed powers in our country. One of the sectors that operated most forcefully in the final stretch, was (ron) the (s) Church (s). The conservative Catholic and evangelical sectors were those who put pressure on legislators, convened marches where the idea of God was central in their posters and invited speakers to talk to them who misinformed in the same line.

In this way, a theme that appeared as collateral and not planned, was the separation of the Church and the State. Parallel and in addition to the struggle for legal abortion, the struggle for a democratic debt was opening up: the true Lay State. The creation of a new handkerchief – this time in orange – as a symbol and the beginning of a new struggle that goes hand in hand with that of the freedom of our bodies, is taking shape.

Today and always, women will continue to abort because the separation of pleasure and reproduction is fundamental. Because motherhood is a choice and not an obligation or a state punishment made under threat of imprisonment or fear of death.

Today and always, women will continue to abort because we are owners of our future, our life plans and our bodies. Now, today, next year and always the women will continue fighting.

Clandestinas never again, the struggle continues.

Author:

Mayca Balaguer
Carolina Tamagnini
Emilia Pioletti

Contact:

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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Senators: let it be law

More than 30 organizations supported this document directed to the senators from the province of Córdoba, Laura Rodríguez Machado, Carlos Caserio and Ernesto Martínez. The document highlights the importance of their vote in favor of the abortion bill under discussion and that has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Given some expressions of the senators and the senator in front of this debate, in which they stated that they would adopt a different position, presenting their own project, many civil society organizations consider it important to present arguments to highlight the reasons why we understand that their vote should be in support of a bill, as approved by the lower house.

In the first place, this project is constitutional and respects the provisions of the International Treaties on Human Rights to which the Argentine State is bound. Neither the National Constitution nor the human rights treaties ratified by the Argentine State are an obstacle to the decriminalization and legalization of abortion, so it is possible to uphold the constitutionality and conventionality of the bill. In fact, these norms impose on the State obligations of respect, protection and guarantee of rights that are guaranteed in this project.

In addition, we argue that conscientious objection can not be institutional. The objection of individual conscience, as it is raised in the bill, is a reasonable solution based on freedom of conscience and religion. However, recognizing the claim of private institutions to exempt themselves from the provision of services for the interruption of pregnancy is unthinkable, taking into account the restrictions that the freedom of individual conscience of the professionals working in these establishments generates, the affectation of freedom and right to the health of the patients, and the costs and problems for the health system.

On the other hand, we present arguments to argue that the 14-week term is a reasonable term. Allowing the voluntary interruption of pregnancy up to this time does not imply risks and is in line with what is regulated by other countries that have been improving their regulatory frameworks.

It is also important to mention that the legalization of abortion does not matter a budgetary problem. The costs of a legal practice are much lower than the costs implied by complications from unsafe abortions that range from surgical interventions with hospitalization and anesthesia to several days in intensive care.

Finally, we consider that this bill of voluntary interruption of pregnancy is consistent with the totality of the current regulatory system and is the missing law in a remarkable list of regulations on human rights in our country.

But fundamentally, we highlight the broad support that this bill has in the province of Córdoba. A million people gather in front of Congress and thousands in the streets throughout the country. In Córdoba, capital and in numerous provincial towns, we find ourselves in a massive way in each pañuelazo, expressing our position.

It can not be denied that the sanction of this law is expected by the Cordoba’s people, the Argentine citizenship and the Latin American community.

The senators have the opportunity to turn this project into law, consolidate long-postponed human rights, meet the international standards in this matter to which the Argentine State is obliged and mark an advance in the protection of women’s rights. and pregnant people in our country.

The bill will allow us to advance in the construction of a more just, egalitarian and respectful society of human rights.

Senators: let it be law

More information

Publication: Senators: let it be law

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

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# 28J: Enough of transvesticides and transfemicidios

On June 28, the international day of LGBT pride is celebrated in commemoration of a series of events known as “Stonewell riots” that mark the beginning of the struggle for collective rights.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

A police raid that persecuted homosexual people who frequented the Stonewall Inn bar in New York gave rise to the demonstrations that, in 1969, were the most visible and iconic milestone of the time in the struggle of the LGBT + community.

This 28J finds the collective continuing and deepening this struggle. The transvestite and trans organizations celebrate this date with the convocation to the third national march under the slogan: “Enough of transvesticities and transfemicidios”. There will be mobilizations in the City of Buenos Aires and in different cities of the country.

Two important events accompany this day. First, the unpublished and historic June 18 ruling that sentenced Gabriel David Marino to life imprisonment for the crime against the transvestite human rights activist Diana Sacayán. It was the first time that Justice used the term “transvesticide” in the files. In the sentence, the court considered that it was a hate crime and that it mediated gender violence. On the other hand, the same day, the World Health Organization excluded transsexuality from its list of mental disorders, marking a great advance in the historical claim of the LGBT + group for the total depathologization of transsexuality and human diversity.

Also, today at 2:00 p.m. a bill that seeks the promotion of formal employment for transgender people and transvestites in the provincial sphere will be presented in the Legislature of Córdoba. This local initiative is part of the National Campaign for Trans and Transvestite Labor Inclusion that was launched in 2016.

In a sociocultural context of increasing respect and tolerance towards oppressed groups and minorities, much remains to be done. Although there are no official figures, the organizations count more than 40 victims of transvesticides and transfemicides so far this year. Also worrying is the average life of the trans community, which is barely 35 years old.

“We go out to the streets to shout enough of transvesticides and transfemicidios, enough of hate crimes, enough of avoidable deaths, enough of exclusion, enough of persecution and criminalization, enough to deny us access to work, we demand the law of labor quota in all the country, for the effective application and respect of the law of gender identity, especially in the field of health, because the medication is delivered to people living with HIV / AIDS, and for the approval of a law of historical reparation for transvestites and trans victims of institutional violence “manifest the slogans on this day of pride.

Author:

Mayca Balaguer

Contact:

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

 

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Gender, media companies and unions: Where are we and where are we going?

After a year of research work between FUNDEPS and Comunicar Igualdad, with the collaboration of the Fundación Heinrich Böll, we present in Córdoba and Buenos Aires the partial results obtained on the participation of women and LGTBI people in media companies, universities and unions. The figures warn of their scarce participation in these sectors and the need to transform the rigid union and business structures that hinder their access and permanence.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Within the framework of some intense weeks in which the women’s movement filled the streets with color and raised its voice claiming rights for so long postponed, on Friday, June 8 we presented in the Faculty of Communication Sciences some conclusions that make visible the permanence of gender violence within one of the most relevant areas in terms of their social role: media companies.

In this instance, the specialists Pate Palero (journalist, member of the PAR Network), Silvana Zanelli (journalist and trade unionist CISPREN), Sandra Chaher (journalist and Communication Director for Equality), Rossana Rodriguez (SATSAID union member Cordoba) joined. , Paula Morales (teacher and researcher specializing in gender and communication), Analía Barrionuevo (director of the Gender Program of the UNC) and Virginia Pedraza (lawyer and coordinator of the gender team of FUNDEPS).

During the talk, the current situation of women and people in the LGTBI community was discussed in terms of access to equal professional opportunities in the media, and the obstacles they face in accessing the positions of decision making and management positions. Possible actions were also proposed to reverse the situation of inequality from different spaces such as media companies, unions and educational institutions related to communication and the measures that the State can take to address the problem.

Some of these points were presented as results of our research in order to visualize the most problematic axes and to put them in discussion during the day.

Glass ceiling: women who do not have access to hierarchical positions

“(…) In the first 1,500 companies listed on Wall Street, there are more directors called John, Robert, William or James than female directors.” (D’Alessandro, 2017, p.101).

The scarcity of women in decision-making positions within companies is a feature that can be seen in many of the Latin American companies: only 4.2% hold executive positions and 8.5% board meetings, while the In most of the countries in the region, women participate in almost 30% in management positions. The media companies of our country do not escape this trend.

Of the 30 media companies analyzed in Buenos Aires and Córdoba, women participate in 27.72% of the property and managerial positions. However, this percentage becomes more unfavorable in the case of Córdoba: only 12% of women occupy these positions.

The panorama of the unions reflects figures of equal concern. In Córdoba, trade union leaderships that include media workers are occupied by 17.79%. Numbers worrying if we consider that, in 2016, women graduates of journalistic careers constituted 69.04%, but currently they only make up 23.29% of the media workers analyzed in the city of Córdoba.

As for transgender people, it was revealed that only one works in the media, which demonstrates the structural problems that cross this group and make it one of the most vulnerable, marginalized and precarious. Trans people are the most affected because they have greater structural impediments that make it difficult for them to obtain a decent job and complete their studies. In some media, there are policies to include diversity for people with disabilities, but not for trans people.

On the other hand, the institutes of journalistic formation showed their shortcomings in terms of specific and obligatory subjects on gender and of curricula that contemplate the gender perspective as a transversal axis to all the contents.

Why are there no more women in the hierarchical positions of media companies or unions? What barriers make up this glass ceiling that hinders women’s access to these positions?

One of the shortcomings detected within the analyzed media companies is the lack of a gender perspective and measures to guarantee equal opportunities, as well as their translation into institutionalized and sustainable policies that are capable of transforming labor structures. . This leads to the invisibility and reproduction of violence, especially the symbolic violence that is the one that silently and latent crosses the daily practices within the media companies.

These violence are made palpable in practices such as the selection and promotion of personnel. The lack of training in the areas of Human Resources perpetuates naturalized violence, making entry difficult, but particularly the rise of women to positions of hierarchy. In this framework, lobbying (carried out among those who already occupy hierarchical positions, most of them male) and the lack of clear promotion criteria are some of the most important factors when selecting personnel for decision-making positions.

Another barrier that makes up this glass ceiling is the sexual division of labor and its reproduction within the media and union companies. Thus, women occupy feminized positions or deal with “soft” issues, linked to the tasks of care and care (and frivolity) with which they have been associated. We speak of women personal secretaries, producers, in Human Resources and Institutional Relations, in the editorial offices of areas such as health, spectacles and gender, in the Ministries of Culture, Communication and Gender. This type of tasks and topics are considered of lower rank compared to those in which males predominate.

This makes it difficult for women to access others that allow them to gain experience and advance, even to those who have a professional training superior to that of their male peers. In this way, the glass ceiling and the sexual division of work impose gender roles, stereotypes and prejudices that are internalized by women generating a vicious circle that affects their confidence, self-esteem and personal initiative that demotivates and reduces the possibility of doing career within these companies.

This is possible because women are the most important and great supporters of a system and a labor market with a patriarchal matrix that forces them to relegate their professional careers to a second level in order to dedicate themselves to other unpaid work: that of the home. The women who are mothers and in whom they relay the tasks of care, demand greater flexibility through extended licenses, practices like the flex time or home office and the reduction of hours that, in some cases, implies a salary reduction and job insecurity. The result: Few women enter competitions in media companies or are part of lists in the unions to access higher positions, have fewer possibilities than men, and stay, at best, in the middle managers or in devalued positions, having lower salaries than men.

Inequality of gender and possibilities of transformation

The data obtained from this research demonstrate the persistence of structural gender inequalities that are reproduced within media companies and unions. However, these spaces revealed, for the most part, a clear interest in reversing this situation. Now the question is: how to achieve more egalitarian work spaces and union activism? How to mainstream the gender perspective in media companies, unions and journalism training institutes?

There are structural problems that the State has to counter. However, it is important that there is an articulation and commitment between different areas. In the first place, it is necessary to have effective public policies with a gender perspective that address and counteract structural gender inequalities.

Second, proactive policies on the part of media companies that imply the incorporation of a gender perspective that can be institutionalized are required. That is to say, that gender offices are created from where mechanisms to denounce cases of gender violence are implemented, which make the problem visible and give it a corresponding treatment.

Third, internal training in gender issues acquires importance, which involves not only trade unions and media companies, but also educational institutions dedicated to the training of communication professionals. These institutions have the role of training professionals who will then construct and communicate interpretations of realities. Great advances have been made in education regarding the incorporation of gender issues. However, in the case of Córdoba, although work is being done, the creation of curricula with a gender perspective and compulsory subjects that deal with the subject in a timely manner is still pending.

Finally, the Cordovan unions must enhance their role as spokespersons for the media companies, focusing on the pressures they have to make towards these companies, in terms of offering training and protecting those and those they represent, in order to guarantee rights and promote measures that exceed those already in place. For this to be a reality, it is necessary that these spaces also break with their own internal machista structures

In short, the greater presence of women and trans people in media companies and unions means that public policies aimed at achieving gender equity, representation and diversification and democratization of voices, equal opportunities, are also implemented. the transformation in the sexist logic involved in the selection of personnel and in the labor market itself, and the (de) construction of friendly and egalitarian work spaces that eliminate the reproduction of gender violence and the sexual division of labor.

Bibliography and links:

To see the full video of the Conversation on equal opportunities in media: https://www.facebook.com/FUNDEPS/videos/1791850930878652/

Author

María Cecilia Bustos Moreschi

Contacto:

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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We repudiate the declarations of the health establishments against the IVE project

The undersigned organizations repudiate the statements of certain health institutions in relation to the approval in the Chamber of Deputies of the draft Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The Private University Hospital of Córdoba and the Reina Fabiola University Clinic are opposed to the articles of the law that have their responsibility to guarantee the practice and that prohibit the objection of institutional conscience. Three private clinics in the city of San Francisco joined the announcement: the Argentine Sanatorium, the Enrique Carrá Specialty Clinic and the San Justo Clinic.

The bill establishes in article 13 the responsibility of health establishments to effect the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, without prior judicial authorization, without requirements that hinder access and must guarantee the woman or pregnant person the use of best practice available according to recommendations of the World Health Organization. It also provides that the attention must be agile and immediate, respecting privacy throughout the process.

On the other hand, article 15 regulates conscientious objection. It provides that the only way for the health professional to be exempted from his obligation to guarantee access to the practice is through the prior, individual and written manifestation of his conscientious objection. This objection must be maintained in all areas, public or private, in which it operates. The objection does not apply in the event that the life or health of the pregnant woman or person is in danger and requires immediate medical attention. Then, it provides that each establishment must keep a register of professional objectors, and expressly prohibits the objection of institutional conscience and / or ideology.

In addition, within the amendments to the Criminal Code, the addition of an article that contemplates the crime committed by the authorities of health establishments or health professionals that unreasonably delay, obstruct or refuse to perform an abortion when legally authorized is envisaged. . This behavior is repressed with imprisonment from three months to a year, and the penalty is aggravated if as a result there is damage to the life or health of the woman or pregnant person.

The health establishments expressed themselves against the law in general and of these articles in particular, arguing that they want to “choose how to cure and care for Argentines”, who have the duty to defend “the rights of the weakest in society” and that his work requires “respect for the freedom of institutional conscience.”

To begin, we remind you that health establishments, even private ones, must respect and comply with rules and standards of care to guarantee the right to health, in general, of all their patients, including sexual and reproductive health. This implies that the medical activity and the exercise of the professions related to health are regulated, not free.

On the other hand, the alleged defense or protection of “the weakest” could not occur in the context of the denial of a medical practice authorized by law. Except when the spirit of the law is to remedy the problem of preventable maternal deaths.

The democratic process of sanctioning this law, still incomplete, was up to now exemplary. For two months, deputies and deputies listened to the presentations of hundreds of experts in the field. Many of the exhibitors belong to the medical community, including the current Minister of Health, Adolfo Rubinstein, who recommended legalization. Like him, former Health Ministers Ginés González García and Daniel Gollán gave their arguments in support of the law.

Finally, we stress that the law approved in the Lower House contemplates the objection of individual conscience. Therefore, health professionals who consider that the practice of abortion is against their religious or moral beliefs, can refuse to do so as long as they respect the provisions of the law. The possibility of objecting can only have an individual with moral agency, that is, an individual who can perform acts and give meaning to them. An institution, as such, does not have a moral agency, and therefore, we consider it appropriate to prohibit the institutional conscience objection proposed by the law.

The fact that there are health centers that refuse to perform this practice in an absolute manner, constitutes an obstacle to the respect of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and pregnant persons.

With these declarations of exercise of an alleged conscience based on legal statutes, the health center authorities, in addition to limiting the rights, are exerting a clear pressure on the freedom of conscience of its professional staff.

Health institutions must assume a commitment to sexual and reproductive health, in line with the bill – in case of entering into force -, other laws related and in force, and the provisions on this matter contained in international rights treaties. humans in health issues.

Who is in charge of protecting the rights of all citizens is the State, through its legislative power, as in this case, and public policies that make effective its application. The health entities must, therefore, accompany these decisions.

Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables

Cuerpo de Abogadas Feministas de Córdoba

Córdoba de Todos

Socorristas Córdoba Hilando

SEAP – Servicio a la Acción Popular

Frente de Mujeres de Nuevo Encuentro

Alternativa por el Cambio Profesional

La Jauretche

MuMaLa – Mujeres de la Matria Latinoamericana Córdoba

Secretaría de Géneros – FUC

Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir

Federación de Estudiantes Secundarios

Corriente Política y Social La Colectiva

Programa Género y Sexualidades, Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres (Cladem)

Mujeres Evita

Mujeres Socialistas – Córdoba Capital y Provincia

Muchachas Peronistas

Patria Grande Córdoba

Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad

Mil Flores Frente de Mujeres

CTA Autónoma de Cordoba

ISlyMA CTA (Instituto de Salud Laboral y Medio Ambiente)

Isadora – Mujeres en Lucha

Izquierda Socialista + independientes

Consultorio Salud Integral

Fundación ECOS

Centro Socialista de Córdoba

Martín Fresneda – Legislador Provincial

Cecilia Merchán – Diputada Nacional del Parlasur

Casa de las Mujeres de Córdoba

Colectivo Ni Una Menos – Córdoba
La Bisagra – MPE
CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales)
ELA (Equipo Latinoamericano de Justicia y Género) 
Alianza Nacional de Abogad@s por los Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres

Mujeres X Mujeres (Tucumán)

Programa de Género de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral

Encuentro de Organizaciones (EO)

Insgenar
Red de Profesoras de Derecho de la Facultad de Derecho de la UBA 
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The right to abortion will be law!

The parliamentary debate in the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation came to an end during the morning of Thursday, after a marathon session, and resulted in the expected average sanction of the law of voluntary termination of pregnancy. So it was that at 9:51, the numbers appeared on the screen and both the campus and the outskirts of the Congress erupted in shouts, applause, tears and hugs.

After 22 continuous hours of debate, with 129 positive votes, 125 negative and 1 abstention, the deputies present approved the consensus opinion that was generated within the framework of the plenary of the four commissions that dealt with the treatment of the project.

For almost two months, the Chamber hosted more than 700 exhibitors, giving a framework of great scope of vision and institutional quality that enriched and gave tools for the legislative debate. In this way, a consensus opinion was reached among the 9 projects presented, with a bill based on the one presented by the Campaign for Safe and Free Legal Abortion.

Deputy Daniel Lipovetzky, president of the Commission of General Legislation and who presided over the Public Hearings, opened the Session with a blunt speech about the reasons why abortion should be legal: “It is a historic day, for the first time it is going to treat a project of decriminalization and legalization of abortion in this room. In the first place, thanks to the women’s movement, the women of the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion, who have been working for many years on a project that legalizes the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in our country. (…) The thousands of clandestine abortions that are done per year in Argentina are a problem that we have to solve. During the hearings, three health ministers from two different governments agreed that the legalization of abortion improves the quality of life of Argentine women. Therefore, there is no doubt about where our vote should be. In no way is this project unconstitutional: this project is absolutely compatible with our charter and international treaties. The opinion that proposes the rejection proposes to maintain a public health problem, hundreds of thousands of clandestine abortions per year, at least 43 deaths during 2016. Nobody legislates for death, we all legislate for life”.

The debate took place on the eve of the start of the World Cup, with millions of people putting their attention at the sporting event of the year. However, this did not prevent other hundreds of thousands of people from focusing their attention and energies on this project.

With a political context of economic adjustment and little commitment in terms of human rights and public inclusion policies, it is evident that feminism is a transversal struggle that managed to put and keep the issue on the political agenda of the country.

The vigil

During the day, women’s organizations and activists from across the country organized to see and hear the debate together, expectant and excited with their own World Cup semi-final. With shots in the schools, artistic interventions, tributes to historical activists, handkerchiefs, musical presentations and a lot of green, the feminist movement was more twinned than ever.

In Buenos Aires, the vigil was held in front of the Congress and hundreds of thousands of people, local and from all over the country, attended. In Córdoba, the meeting was held at the Anthropology Museum of the National University of Córdoba, which transmitted the debate while various interventions were carried out outside. It is estimated that thousands of activists passed through the day and night. In Cordoba, the celebrations were then taken to the classic corner of Patio Olmos.

When the voting ended, the excitement overflowed: so much struggle, so much militancy, historical, constant and intensified in recent months had results in the approval of the text of the law and the expected average sanction. The emotion of today will be the necessary energy to continue the fight that continues with the discussion of the project in the Senate.

Schools taken: the claim for Comprehensive Sex Education

The taking of schools reflects another claim that continues in force: that of the effective application of the Law of Comprehensive Sexual Education and its guidelines. But the students also spoke in favor of abortion: in the surveys that circulated during the days prior to the average sanction it was clear that in this struggle young people are protagonists, since 80% of the people consulted with ages between 18 and 35 years ruled in favor of it.

And in this sense there is a first conquest: Article 13 of the bill establishes that the State must ensure comprehensive sexual education, including responsible procreation, at all educational levels and paying special attention to respect for the diversity and cultural identity of the original peoples.

The IVE bill

The approved document retakes several points of the project of the National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion and of the 9 projects presented by other legislators, but also incorporates some observations made by the deputies during the different instances of debate.

We remind that this is the seventh time that the National Campaign has presented a project of decriminalization and legalization of abortion, since it was formed in 2005. However, none of the previous times had gone through the commissions and reached instances of debate. What happened in recent months is undoubtedly the fruit of a historic struggle that was decidedly deepened in recent years.

The project proposes to maintain the causes that the Penal Code currently recognizes for the legal interruption of pregnancy (causal violation and causal health), adds a reason for the case in which the non-viability of extra-uterine life of the fetus was diagnosed, and also adds an explicit affirmation that women and pregnant persons have “the right to access the voluntary interruption of pregnancy with the only requirement of the woman or pregnant person up to week fourteen (14), inclusive, of the gestational process.”

For the causes, it also explicitly incorporates issues that had been ordered by the Supreme Court in the FAL ruling: for the causal violation, the termination of pregnancy may be made “with the sole requirement and the affidavit of the woman or pregnant person before the health professional intervener “. For the health cause, it indicates that it corresponds “if the woman or pregnant person, considered as a human right, is at risk of life or health”.

In addition, the project establishes provisions to ensure that the interruption of pregnancy is carried out in a consensual, rapid and informed manner, that delays or obstacles can not be imposed, that privacy and privacy must be respected, the obligation of health professionals to guarantee the practice of equality throughout the country (with reference to the best practices of the World Health Organization) the limitation and regulation of conscientious objection (explicitly prohibiting the institutional), and referral to the Civil and Commercial Code for the case of minors.

It also provides for the creation of a registry of statistics and indicates that the public health sector and social work should incorporate the comprehensive coverage of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy envisaged in the present in all forms that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends

The opinion that had been signed on Tuesday to be treated in the session suffered minor modifications after its general approval in the venue. At the time of the article by article vote, some concessions were made to the requests of some deputies, for example, the investment of titles and the addition of explanatory questions.

The criminal code

The first title of the project contains all the provisions that modify or add questions in the Penal Code. First, it establishes penalties for third parties that cause the abortion of the pregnant person beyond week 14 without the consent of the woman and without any cause.

Then it incorporates a new offense and provides a penalty for the authority of a health establishment or health professional that will unjustifiably delay, hinder or refuse to perform an abortion in legally authorized cases.

Finally, it provides that the woman or pregnant person who causes her own abortion or consents to someone else causing it when it was performed after the fifteenth week of the gestational process, without mediating any of the causes, will be repressed with imprisonment from three months to 1 year.

However, it does not foresee any penalty for the attempt, and gives the judge the power to order that the penalty be suspended pending the reasons that prompted the woman or pregnant person to perform the interruption, their subsequent attitude, the nature of the fact and the appreciation of other circumstances that could prove the inconvenience of applying the penalty. Although it represents an advance that considers the reasons of the woman, it will require working and being attentive to what the judges could dictate and from what place and criterion they did it.

What the deputies said

Deputy Brenda Austin (UCR-PRO), one of the first signers of the Campaign project said in her speech: “Every day, right now, women of all ages and social classes in every corner of our country, abort: students, professions, unemployed, domestic employees, deputies, wives and couples of deputies, their daughters. This happens, denying it is so foolish that it hurts. We do not discuss our opinions here, what we are discussing is in what conditions they do it: those that have resources do it in private clinics and those that do not, in the middle of despair and in horrible conditions. The current Penal Code, which was thought by men in a Congress where women did not even have the right to vote, said it was a crime, thinking that with the threat of jail women would change their minds. The criminalization failed. It does not prevent women from aborting and aggravates the problem. Ladies and gentlemen, have you really put yourself on the skin and in the shoes of the women who make those decisions? Do you really feel sitting here in your pews with the right to judge them and force them to make one or the other decision? There are two options: one imposes freedom and another obliges women to act according to the beliefs of another sector, minority, but with much lobbying power in our country. Press the NO button, it does not save the two lives, it condemns women to clandestinity.”

Victoria Donda (Libres del Sur), another of the signatories and promoters of the Campaign in the Lower House project, said: “Human Rights are progressive, so if this is so clear in the International Treaties that have constitutional status, why? What is so difficult to pass a law that recognizes this right to women? Here we do not talk about abortion, yes or no. The underground kills: they are not voting for the two lives, they are penalizing the woman for exercising freedom.”

The Deputy Araceli Ferreyra (PPV), affirmed: “The abortion is the last crime with load of sort that is of the time of the carts. Of course there are no figures, if it is clandestine. We need legality so there are figures. Feminism is that radical idea that women are also people and we have the same rights. The criminalization of abortion violates half of the international treaties that guarantee the rights of women We are fighting for the rights of women so that they have sovereignty in all aspects of their lives, so that motherhood is a choice.”

On the other hand, the deputy Lucila de Ponti, (PPV), said: “Today we come to collect a debt. The one of Ana Maria Acevedo, a 19-year-old girl from Santa Fe, the one from Belén, 3 years imprisoned in Tucumán. The debt with María Campos who died recently in Santiago del Estero. The debt with Malena. With Cecilia, with Dora, with all the pioneers of the Campaign to whom her life went so that today in this area we are discussing this project. The debt of a State that chose to look the other way. Life, all lives, defend themselves by conquering and expanding rights, not denying reality. That is why the one who opposes abortion is not in favor of life, is in favor of hiding. If we get here, to the site, it is thanks to the movement of women who managed to install this issue on the street, in their homes, in schools, in universities. The thousands of women who are on the streets today asking the State to stop being absent.

We are not making history, we are passing through, it is they who are making history. The future is here, the time is now, let it be law.”

 

What’s next?

With the approval of the Chamber of Deputies, the IVE Law has a half sanction. The next step is the debate in the Senate. Although it is not known yet a precise date, according to transcended, it would be before the winter break. The law must be debated during this year, otherwise the average penalty falls.

The prognosis at the beginning of the year, when the subject was discussed, was not positive. There was talk of a majority of Senators against. However, the development of informative audiences along with the great social mobilization that accompanied the entire debate will undoubtedly change things. The two majority blocs of the Senate, agreed that the context is favorable for the sanction of the law of decriminalization and legalization of abortion. In fact, a message circulated through social networks affirming that the entire block of Senators and Senators of the Front for Victory – PJ will vote in favor, meeting a demand from society that has been expressed massively through the Women’s Collectives.

The sanction of a law of voluntary interruption of pregnancy means an advance in the recognition of the human rights of women and pregnant persons, fundamentally of the rights related to sexual and reproductive health and the recognition of their freedom and autonomy. But it also means providing a framework of legality not only to pregnant bodies to be able to decide safely and with guarantees, but also to health professionals to manage their activities safely, without losing sight of their obligation to respect and guarantee rights. .

This conquest of the women’s movement with its green tide is a historic landmark and there is no turning back. It’s a public health issue. It is a question of human rights. It is a matter of desire. Of free bodies. With shame to another part: the right to abortion, it will be law!

Contact

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

Emilia Pioletti

Source of images

National Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion – Córdoba

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Without legal abortion there is not one less

Women raised their voices throughout the country. In Córdoba, this June 4, more than 60 thousand women filled the streets in a new mobilization.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

As for four years ago, yesterday the most emblematic mobilization of the women’s movement in our country took place.
This year the cry of Ni Una Menos was given in the framework of the debate on the legalization of abortion in Argentina and the main slogan was the claim for legal abortion, safe and free. It was the last mass mobilization before the debate in the Chamber of Deputies, which will take place on June 13: the last great pañuelazo.
But in addition to claiming that there is not one or less for clandestine abortions, women reinforced the historic claim of this date: enough femicides and sexist violence. The same day the Supreme Court of Justice made public the report of the Public Registry of Femicide of the Argentine Justice, which establishes that 251 direct victims of femicide were surveyed in the whole country during the year 2017. So far in 2018, the province of Córdoba already counts 9 victims.

Other struggles were also present, struggles from other latitudes: the recent conquest of Ireland by the referendum that opened the doors to the legalization of abortion was recognized, the Brazilian Councilor Marielle Franco was reminded, mass mobilizations were held against the Spanish justice that acquitted “the herd” and honored the Honduran environmental defender, Berta Cáceres.
Within the local demands, a larger budget was required for public policies to eradicate violence against women, better working conditions for women workers in this sector, access to justice for victims of gender violence and secular, scientific and sexual education. with a gender perspective.
Along with the claim for legal abortion, the delay of the Cordovan justice was denounced by not issuing around the judicialization of the provincial protocol for access to non-punishable abortion, which has been partially suspended for 6 years, profoundly impeding the right of women to access sexual and reproductive health services.
It was also emphatically claimed for the rights of the collective of sexual diversity, exclaiming loudly: enough of machismo, misogyny and homolesbobitransodio.
Lastly, Cordovan women, at a clear disadvantage due to the wage gap, raised their voices against fares and pension and labor reforms that deepen this inequality.

The revolutionary women’s movement again filled the streets and their cry was resounding: Live, free and with all the rights we want!

Photo: Assembly NiUnaMenos Córdoba

Author 

Mayca Balaguer

Contact

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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Gender Violence and Public Communication Policies in Argentina: Advances and Setbacks until 2017

The Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (FUNDEPS) and the Civil Association Communication for Equality present a report on the functioning of public policies on gender and communication, from the assumption of the current national government.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

At the beginning of 2016, from the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies and the Civil Association Communication for Equality, a report called “Violence against women and public communication policies” was produced, which gives an account of the state of public policies on communication and gender in Argentina and the state bodies that, until the end of 2015, were in charge of implementing them. That report was based on an extensive investigation that gathered data through formal requests, formulated in the exercise of the right to access information; complaints to the corresponding bodies in cases of media and symbolic violence and interviews with members of these bodies and civil society organizations.

In 2018, we made a report on the application of such policies from the assumption of the current national government. In it, the main changes evidenced in the last two years are analyzed, based on the information obtained through new requests for information formulated before the corresponding bodies during the year 2017 and through interviews and information search through the official channels of each dependency.

The bodies studied are: ENACOM, Public Defender, INAM, INADI, Observatory of Discrimination in Radio and TV, Office of Monitoring of Publication of Notices of Sexual Commerce.

The measures and public policies implemented by these organizations had modifications. Although some that can be considered advances, many others weaken the achievements made in the protection of the audiences, mainly of the vulnerable sectors; both from a gender perspective and from the right to communication as a human right.

The analysis carried out aims to account for the transformations in the field of communication, specifically in relation to gender issues, during the last two years and since the change in government management in December 2015. In line with the changes that followed public communication policies from then on, the specific areas linked to gender also underwent transformations that, although not yet completely defined, imply for several of the agencies a brake on the programs that were carried out and, after two years after the start of the new administration, it is not clear yet what will be the future direction of the public communication and gender policies that were developed in Argentina as of 2010.

Main conclusions

  • Although the decrees and resolutions that have affected Law 26,522 on Audiovisual Communication Services do not directly operate on gender policies, the actions of several of the State agencies dedicated to the implementation of these policies have undergone modifications. Some of them represent advances, but others weaken the achievements made in the protection of the audiences.
  • The defiance of the Ombudsman’s Office -one of the relevant bodies in the application of communication and gender policies, and with international recognition- is one of the negative aspects of the paradigm that we call “transition” in current communication and gender policies from Argentina. In spite of this accretion, the organism continues to operate successfully within the permitted margins.
  • We also negatively evaluate the lack of access to information by ENACOM, which accounts for the obstacles existing for the purposes of monitoring the actions of state bodies by citizens. However, we value the action of the same -evaluated through indirect mechanisms- which is revealed in an increase in resolutions and in the consideration of the rights of women and the LGTBI community as autonomous causes of violation of rights.
  • There seems to be a transformation in the functions of the Office of Monitoring of Sexual Offer Notices that would cease to exercise its sanctioning capacity and focusing its actions only on digital media and assistance to the Judicial Power.
  • The Observatory for Discrimination in Radio and Television was dissolved informally, a tripartite body with an outstanding performance during the last 10 years; neither is it possible to access the pedagogical heritage generated by it.
  • The Observatory of Symbolic and Mediatic Violence was created within the scope of INAM, with competence in all types of media.
  • INAM expanded its action in communication policies through the National Plan of Action against Violence with policies that have not yet been delivered in a measurable manner.
  • The draft laws of convergent communications from different political sectors have included almost nil considerations of gender, although they have had a relative receptivity towards the proposals that have been sent to them from civil society.

More information

Contacto

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

Sandra Chaher – sandrachaher@comunicarigualdad.com.ar

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The legalization of abortion is a matter of equality, health and human rights

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

We support and accompany the process that promotes the legalization of abortion. In this article we present our institutional positioning document and the reasons why we understand that guaranteeing safe and free legal access to the interruption of pregnancy is a matter of equality, public health and human rights.

We present the institutional document that bases the positioning of the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies in relation to the need for the State to legalize the interruption of pregnancy, and guarantee its safe and free access, within the framework of the promotion and effective compliance of sexual and reproductive health policies, guaranteeing comprehensive sexual education, access to methods of contraception and the termination of pregnancy, as full realization of the rights involved.

The purpose of our organization is to contribute to a more just, equitable and inclusive society, seeking to guarantee the validity of human rights (article 2 of our statute). One of our main areas of work is the promotion of women’s human rights.

We understand that the legal interruption of pregnancy, as part of sexual and reproductive rights, is a matter of human rights, public health and gender. Matters that are of great relevance in our mission and objective as an organization.

We believe that it is necessary that in our country the conditions of legality be created so that women and people with the ability to generate access to medical practices that guarantee the interruption of pregnancy in a safe and free way in the respect of their will in the health system.

We insist, in addition, that the State guarantees the implementation of the Law of Comprehensive Sexual Education and of public policies aimed at access to contraception (such as the National Plan for Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation), as fundamental pillars for the realization of the right to the sexual and reproductive health of people.

A health issue

  • Clandestine abortions are the main cause of maternal mortality in Argentina.
  • Deaths and health complications linked to abortions disproportionately affect women in more vulnerable economic conditions.

A question of human rights and equality

  • Although the Supreme Court decided a case establishing criteria for access to abortion in certain circumstances, the practice is very restrictive and once again disproportionately affects women in more vulnerable economic conditions.
  • In recent years, various human rights committees have made concrete recommendations to Argentina to modify its abortion regulation.
  • In countries where access to abortion was legalized, there was no increase in the number of abortions. At the same time, there were drastic reductions in maternal mortality rates.
  • The termination of pregnancy should be the last resort in a comprehensive plan of sex education and access to contraceptive methods.

More information:

Contact:

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

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Gender parity: a necessary conquest

On November 23, 2017, the National Congress approved Law No. 27,412 on Gender Parity in Areas of Political Representation, the result of the harmonization of several projects presented in the Senate during 2016. The first one was the one presented on February 26 of that year by Peronist deputy Jujeña Liliana Fellner.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Although the final draft had been approved in the Senate in October 2016, it did not reach the Chamber of Deputies until shortly before the end of the 2017 session.

In the long session on November 22, Rep. Victoria Donda (Movimiento Libres del Sur) asked that the project be treated “on tables”. Thus, in the early hours of the morning, with 165 votes in favor, 4 votes against, 2 abstentions and 82 absent deputies, the bill became law.

With the aim of guaranteeing gender parity in the legislative bodies, the law establishes that the lists of candidates for the National Congress (deputies and senators) and the Mercosur Parliament must be carried out “placing interspersed women and men from the first titular candidate to the last alternate candidate”.

In this way, the law takes female representation on the electoral lists to 50 percent, guaranteeing the principle of gender equivalent participation. This decision is in tune with the local legislation of some provinces, such as Santiago del Estero, Córdoba, Río Negro and, more recently, Buenos Aires, which for several years now have laws of equivalent gender participation.

The Law of Quota: the fundamental antecedent

Although we had a quota law since 1991, the year in which Argentina became the first country in the world to guarantee the participation of women in electoral posts, this law was already obsolete. Law 24,012, which two decades ago was considered advanced, established a minimum quota of 30% that should be occupied by women. However, in practice, the law ended up showing its limitations when converting that percentage into a ceiling, rather than a minimum quota, causing women to be relegated to third, sixth or ninth place in the lists.

Unfortunately, as we have said on another occasion, in the swing of the interpretation of our National Constitution, and in particular Art. 37, the provisions of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women continue to be ignored. (CEDAW, for its acronym in English), which enjoys constitutional status and must be mandatorily taken as a current and complementary rule of our Constitution.

 

The CEDAW, in its Art. 4 Inc. 1, provides: “The adoption by States Parties of temporary special measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women shall not be considered discrimination in the manner defined in the present Convention, but in no way entail, as a consequence, the maintenance of unequal or separate regulations; these measures will cease when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been reached.”

The female quota laws are nothing other than these “temporary special measures” established in this normative body, which must cease when the objectives of equality of opportunity and treatment have been reached.

Already at the last Conferences on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the idea of ​​a minimum percentage for gender parity had been proposed as a regional goal. In the Quito Consensus emerged from the X Regional Conference on Women States recognized that parity is “one of the determinant drivers of democracy, whose goal is to achieve equality in the exercise of power, in decision-making, in the mechanisms of participation and social and political representation, and in the family relations within the different types of families, the social, economic, political and cultural relations, and that constitutes a goal to eradicate the structural exclusion of women“.

 

The quotas are corrective measures and, therefore, temporary; On the other hand, parity is a permanent principle that better represents equality in the exercise of power. Parity is a definitive measure that seeks to share the political power between women and men and transform the very idea of ​​democracy.

However, it is necessary to recognize that the quota laws or quota mechanisms have achieved conquests on the road to equality, favoring new issues on the public agenda, especially in terms of gender equality and defense of rights.

Since then, our Congress has enacted numerous laws that promote the rights of women against discrimination and inequality that they suffer for reasons of gender, such as Law 26,485 of Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas of that develop their interpersonal relationships (2009), Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services (which promotes equal treatment and not stereotyped in the media, avoiding discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, also in 2009), Law 26,862 of Comprehensive access to medical-assistance procedures and techniques of medically assisted reproduction (2013) and Law 26,873 of Breastfeeding – Public Promotion and Awareness (2013), to name a few.

As a result of the long struggle of the different feminist movements and the work of legislators of different party colors, parity represents an enormous advance in legislative matters. This advance, however, must be accompanied by public policies with a gender perspective that guarantee and deepen the realization of these rights and that contribute to a real transformation of patriarchal power relations.

The Gender Parity Law in Areas of Political Representation is definitely a positive measure that will allow the effective enjoyment of women’s human rights and the real opening of the legislative space to the agenda of the feminist movements as inescapable themes for the strengthening of the democracy.

 

Authors

Rocío Aguirre

Mayca Balaguer

More information

Virginia Pedraza – vir.pedraza@fundeps.org

Mayca Balaguer – maycabalaguer@fundeps.org

Emilia Pioletti – emiliapioletti@fundeps.org