Nicaragua, World Champion of Gender Equality in Politics

Half of the candidates running for legislative elections Sunday were women and Congress will be split 50-50 between women and men, as decreed by a 2012 bill that was part of a general effort to address gender inequality in the country.

Before Sunday’s elections, about 42 percent of parliamentary seats were occupied by women, making Nicaragua the country with the highest rate of female legislators — and ministers — in the world, ahead of Switzerland, Finland, France, Cape Verde and Norway.

According to the latest gender gap report released in April by the World Economic Forum, Nicaragua had the best record in all of Latin America and is ranked 10th globally out of 145 countries.

Right before the bill was passed in Nov. 2012, Nicaragua scored a very low 58 percent on the gender equality index related to political empowerment of women, according to Social Watch’s annual report.

While the 2012 bill has marked an important step toward gender equality in the political sphere, Nicaragua remains behind in the economic realm, although the Sandinista government has improved the country’s economy.

When the bill was voted into law, women associations pointed out that the bill needed to be complemented with integral policies that address gender inequality and sexism in Nicaraguan society.

According to the U.N.’s 2015 Gender Gap Index Report, Nicaragua still ranked 125 out of 188 countries as far the gender development indicator.

This represents a significant improvement over the past decade, but the country still has a long way to go to provide equal access to education, health care and employment to all Nicaraguan women.

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