Group of Women Parliamentarians ENG (website) | Page 52

Moving from Formal to Substantive Equality

As of now we have 365 days. 365 days to continue advancing, to obtain more results, to consolidate this. And this leads us to a personal question:

What can I do when I return to my

country, when I return to my

community, my neighbourhood,

my church, my congress, so that

this progress can be made?

We need not leave it all to the ParlAmericas team. We are ParlAmericas; we are the ParlAmericas team. We are the ones with the responsibility, the commitment to solidifying this into concrete actions. There is no answer, no follow-up plan. Each of us has to do it so that within 365 days, when we gather in another country in Latin America or the Caribbean, we can say: we have done this and we have made progress and we have built that change.

It is essential therefore that we not undertake it alone. We cannot work alone. We must work as a network … Use our emails, web pages, social media, to communicate.

When we face a difficulty, do not think: I have to solve the problem. Share the problem. Share the difficulty to see how we can collaborate to mutually solve the problem, which could be in Jamaica, The Bahamas, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua. Solve it collectively.

Let’s use technology as a weapon,

as a force to … change this world

of discrimination against women.

It is important to recognize, then, that we grow when we work with new partners … At this Gathering the methodology has been changed, and we have done it with a new partner, with NDI … When we work with new partners we grow as well …

I want to stress the importance of

a woman, or a group of women

and men, with the resolve to bring

about change …

There are many young women parliamentarians [here] who have just begun their mandate in congress and that is also very important, because we can begin many processes for change with them ... When at some point one of us feels weak and that we may falter, the other is at her side to tell her, we must continue. This is our leadership ...

The wisdom is in our people. It is

not what we know ourselves that

we have brought with us. It is the

wisdom of our people that is with

us here.

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Moving from Formal to Substantive Equality

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