1. Women, Money, and Politics in the law
May 2017

2. Observing gender and political financing

3. Political-Electoral Finance from a gender perspective
OAS Electoral Observation Missions have concluded that:
Financing is one of the barriers for women to enter the political arena
A comprehensive study to understand this situation remains a challenge

5. Political-Electoral Finance from a Gender Perspective
The OAS publication “Politics, Money and Power”  explores some aspects of political financing systems that might level the field for women:
Level playing field for women
Private contribution limits
Direct and indirect public financing
Transparency and accountability
Effective control systems
Financing for women empowerment
Allocation of money in special accounts

6. OAS/IACW - 2nd generation legislative affirmative actions
Actions to empower women and promote
participation
Brazil | Costa Rica |Colombia |Honduras | Mexico Panama
Incentives to get women registered and elected Colombia | Chile | Haiti
Sanctions for not complying with the law
Honduras
Direct and indirect financing
Brazil

7. Brazil ( )
10% of media time should be allocated to promote women´s political participation (between campaigns).
Temporary Provision
2016 – 2018: Media time must be at least 20%
2020 – 2022: Media time must be at least 15%
5% of the party´s public funds should be allocated to create and maintain programs that promote women´s political participation.
For elections to be held in 2016, 2018 and 2020, parties should reserve 5-15% of the party fund for women´s political campaigns

8. Mexico ( )
3% of the regular public funding of the party shall be allocated for training, promotion and development of women's political leadership.
This includes: research, publications, workshops, campaign events, logistical costs of events.

9. Panama ( )
After the election, political parties receive public funds based on the votes they obtained.
At least 50% of those funds must be allocated to civic and political education. Of those funds, at least 10% should be used to carry out activities dedicated to the empowerment of women.

10. Honduras ( )
Political parties must submit a gender-equity policy six months prior to the call to primaries (TSE controls). If they don't comply, they lose 5% of their public funding.
10% of the public funding allocation shall be directed to activities related to: institutional strengthening, permanent political training, promotion of women's leadership and promotion of youth leadership. (Only applies to parties that have a seat in the Assembly and 2% of valid votes)

11. Colombia (2011)
5% of public funds will be equally distributed among all political parties or movements in proportion to the number of women elected.
At least 15% of public funds should be allocated for the development of trainings and other activities that promote inclusion of women, youth and minorities.

12. Haiti (2015)
If 30% of a political party or coalition registered members are women, they will receive a deduction of 40% on their registration fee.
The political party or coalition that presents at least 50% of women candidates for the parliamentary election and succeeds in getting half of them elected, will receive an increase of 25% in public financing for the next legislative election.

13. Costa Rica (2009)
Political parties are required by law to assure parity on training expenditures to promote knowledge on human rights, ideology, gender equality, leadership, political participation, empowerment, nomination and exercise of decision-making, among others.

14. Chile (2015) Temporary Provision
For the Parliamentary elections of 2017, 2021, 2025 and 2029, women candidates (senators and house representatives) will receive additional reimbursement for their expenditures on their campaign if they are elected.

15. Conclusions
Latin America has made some progress regarding electoral financing for gender equality, but implementation remains a challenge.
Need of more studies and analysis to better understand the relationship between women, money and politics.
There is a lack of knowledge about the type of training that leads to the empowerment of women.
Institutional strength constitutes an important factor for the implementation of these measures.
EOMs should further include recommendations targeting these second generation affirmative actions (i.e. political financing and violence)

16. Brenda Santamaría, Section Chief, Electoral Observation
Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation
1889 F St NW Washington DC, United States
May 2017