A new study found that Colombia has one of the lowest numbers of females working for government bodies, ranking 113th in a study of 140 countries worldwide, reported Semana on Thursday.
The study, carried out by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, showed that of the 102 seats in Colombian parliament only twelve are occupied by women, which translates to 11.8% of the total number of employees of the Upper House or Senate.
For the upcoming congressional elections on March 14 only 22.3% of the total number of candidates are women, and currently eight of Colombia’s political parties do not have any female representatives in Congress.
This means that Colombia officially has the lowest number of females in government in Latin America.
According to Semana’s report, current female senators and candidates Leonor Serrano de Camargo, Amparo Arbelaez and Dilian Francisca Toro have attributed the statistics to the “macho traits” of Colombian culture, whereas Gilma Jimenez notes that part of the responsibility lies with women themselves, who have not taken risks and roles of power.
The study was released four days before the International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8.