2022 Update-Celebrate, reflect and remember. Women of Honduras celebrate voting rights anniversary
- Markina Ben
- Jan 25, 2020
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 25, 2022
January 25, 2022
In the midst of today's swirl of congratulatory messages to women throughout Honduras to conmemorate the 67th anniversary of the law recognizing Honduran women's right to vote, there is an update of great significance to our January 25, 2020 post: the election on November 2021 of Honduras’ first female President.
The National Electoral Council of Honduras (CNE) officially declared Iris Xiomara Castro Sarmiento the constitutionally elected President of Honduras for the 2022-2026 term. She is due to take office after her swearing-in ceremony on January 27, 2022.
We salute her hard-earned victory and wish her every success in leading Honduras. May the President-elect honor the legacy of all the women who, for many years have fought and are still fighting to make equity and equality a reality. May she rise to the challenge of setting an example for all our girls, for all our children ... our future generations.
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"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. … It shouldn't be that women are the exception."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
American lawyer and jurist
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1993-2020)
“What you do makes a difference,
and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall (1934 - )
Environmental activist and anthropologist
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Congratultions to all Honduran women! Celebrate, reflect and remember.
Celebrating Honduran Women
by Markina Ben
January 25, 2020
Today marks the 65th anniversary of the ratification of the law recognizing Honduran women’s right to vote and run for public office. Decree No. 29 was ratified by the Honduran Congress on January 25, 1955 during the government of President Julio Lozano Díaz. According to media reports from that time, the Decree was delivered by the Government to the Federation of Female Associations F.A.F.H. on that date also declaring it "Honduran Women's Day".Ratification had been pending for a year, since January 1954. That moment was the culmination of a long struggle that had started in the 1920s. Women first exercised the right to vote during the 1957 general elections. That year, three of them were elected to the National Congress. See acompilation of “firsts” at the end of the article.
Honduran women considered it a triumph and prepared to continue promoting their cause even though the decree came with some limitations. For example, only those who could read and write were eligible to vote at a time when the literacy rate was low.
The 1954 Vote in Congress
On January 25, 1954, the halls and balconies of the National Congress were crowded with catrachas who were there to witness the last debate on a new initiative that had been presented by a group of congressmen to institute women's suffrage. The results of the debate were predictable. There was a consensus among the representatives of the Chamber that “it was time” – (well, in truth, it was overdue…congressmen had been lobbied for a few decades already) - to finally grant Honduran women their political rights. The decree was unanimously approved. The ladies who had come to the Chamber as spectators cheered and then solemnly broke into song… the Honduran national anthem.
The Men
According to reporting from that time, Congressman Eliseo Pérez Cadalso, one of the proponents of the legislation, made a motion immediately after: «Very respectfully I come to make a motion: a minute of silence to honor the memory of three congressmen who had been promoters of Honduran feminism: Dr. Policarpo Bonilla, General Mariano Bertrand Anduray and Dr. José Máximo Gálvez. I also cordially invite the noble, hardworking and charming women of our country to visit their graves and lay fresh flowers in testimony of recognition to their role. The motion was unanimously approved and a committee of legislators was appointed to accompany the women, who had also found the motion appropriate, to lay the wreaths.
This anecdote carries an obvious and profound message: men play an important role in contributing to achieve gender equality and promoting women empowerment initiatives. They can set an example in supporting and foster women’s access to employment, appropriate working conditions, control of economic resources and full participation in decision-making. This was true in 1954. It continues to be true in 2020.
So, to all those visionary men who have been, are and will be supportive of gender equality: We honor you as well.
Trailblazers: Guerreras Catrachas
The early twentieth century brought a wide range of “revolutionary” ideas from feminists abroad, including the idea of suffrage. Honduran women linked these ideas with their own, also reconfirming that like in other countries, their condition and treatment was unjustly determined by their gender which resulted in a limitation of their opportunities to develop and reach their full potential. In Honduras, most historians mark the beginning of the fight for gender equality in 1894. There were small successes such as the liberation of women from marital power in the 1906 Civil Code. However, the proposal to grant political rights to women at the time was met with the argument from a congressional majority that doing so would be contribute to inserting women into a world of violence. This was based on the general view that political exercise was full of vices that opposed "moral and spiritual integrity a woman was supposed to possess in her role to maintain stability at home".
The first feminist association in Honduras was the "Women's Cultural Society" a group of women writers and teachers. It was founded in 1926 and spearheaded by the Elvir Sisters (Jesús, Mariana y Ceferina), Graciela Amaya de García and Profesora (title given to women teachers) Visitación Padilla along with María Luisa Medina, Eva Sofía Dávila, Goya Isabel López, Flora Suazo, Ángela and Genoveva Andino, Natalia Triminio, Rosita Amador, Juana Ochoa, Sofía Vega, María López, Adriana Hernández, Florencia Padilla, Rosa Flores. This Society, among other things, was committed to adult education, especially for women.
In 1935 Francisca “Paca” Navas founded a weekly newspaper La Voz de Atlántida, which was a publication focused on arts, literature and science. It was considered the first feminist journal in Honduras covering topics such as aging, domestic abuse, incest, rape, rape, homelessness among youths, and the subordination of women. Ms. Navas also represented the feminist movement of Honduras in international meetings.
20 years after the creation of the Women’s Cultural Society, in 1946, Lucila Gamero (a feminist writer) together with a group of suffragists, organized the Pan American Women's Society. Its mission was to fight for women's rights in Latin America. March 5, 1947, marked the creation of the Honduran Women's Committee which was affiliated with the Inter-American Commission of Women. Its objective was to obtain political and voting rights for women. in 1949, an “unprecedented” event occurred. The Honduran Women's Committee used the radio, airing La Hora de la Mujer, a “revival” program to disseminate their demands. The meaning of the radio program’s name can be interpreted in several ways. Literally it can mean “an hour dedicated to women” or “a women’s hour”. Figuratively it means “the time has come for women” – as in “la hora de la verdad” which translates into the moment of truth.
The choice of name of the program could have been a direct reference to Eva Perón’s famous March 1947 speech after the Argentinian Congress approved women’s suffrage.
”Ha llegado la hora de la mujer que comparte una causa pública y ha muerto la hora de la mujer como valor inerte y numérico dentro de la sociedad. Ha llegado la hora de la mujer que piensa, juzga, rechaza o acepta, y ha muerto la hora de la mujer que asiste, atada e impotente, a la caprichosa elaboración política de los destinos de su país, que es, en definitiva, el destino de su hogar.” Eva Perón, 1947.
This is a rough translation: ”The time has come for women to share a public cause and the time is over for women to be an inert and statisticall value within society. The time has come for women who think, judge, reject or accept, and the time is over for women to observe powerless the capricious political elaboration of the destinies of our country, which is, in short, the destny of our homes.”
In 1950, university students created the Association of University Women, a group that joined others already organized in founding the Federation of Women's Associations of Honduras (FAFH) in 1951. Though much remains to be done in Honduras; since 1955, women and Honduran society have taken important strides in politics, sports and culture. You can find an incomplete compilation of Honduran trailblazers at the end of this article.
Recognizing the progress and also the serious challenges that remain
Today, Honduras, as a state, reports regularly on its progress and challenges on gender equality and equity within the U.N framework. This includes the commitments of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goal Number Five, which pursues gender equality. It has risen as an issue in the public policy agenda which has translated into the creation of dedicated institutions and initiatives.
There is room for improvement in many areas. Political representation of women is one of them. A study published in 2019 by the Institute of Legal Research of Mexico's Autonomous University observes congressional positions held by women since 1980 post-transition elections. In 1980, only two non-alternate members of congress were women, out of a total of 82. The number of women grew in successive elections, reaching 12 congresswomen (9.4%) in 1990, 31 non-alternate members in 2006 (24.2%), and a historic peak for Honduras of 33 female lawmakers in 2014 (25.8%). The 2017 election was a step backward, with 27 women elected (21.7%) despite the changes to the gender components of the electoral design.
Bottom line
Beyond the necessary public policies, it is from within, at home – that the values and principles are passed on. The examples that are set by those around children and youths as they grow up play an important role in shaping their views and aspirations. If our trailblazers, those formidable Guerreras Catrachas, could bring about change through their relentless commitment, integrity, resolve, courage, and cunning; then we, today, as a society should follow their example – also become ourselves an example - and continue the work to achieve gender equality.
Today we pay tribute to those generations … those brave, and dignified catracha warriors that made it possible for women in Honduras to exercise their rights and have the possibility of getting closer to realizing their potential. May they continue to be a source of inspiration for the women and girls of today and for many future generations.
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Markina Ben
Learn. Understand. Share.
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FIRSTS These are only some of the many firsts for women in Honduras in various arenas like politics, government, security and armed forces and literature. A plethora of other references can be found online.
Elected officials:
First female legislators in the National Congress elected in the 1957 general election.
· Carmen Griffin de Lefevre, Liberal Party
· Herlinda Blanco de Bonilla, Liberal Party
· Carmen Meléndez de Cálix, National Party
· Nora Gúnera de Melgar, first female mayor of Tegucigalpa (1990-1993) and first female presidential candidate (1997).
Appointed government Officials:
· Victoria Burchard de Castellón, first female Secretary General of the National Council for Elections (1957-1963)
· Alba Alonzo de Quezada, first female Minister of Labor and Social Security (1965-1971).
· Gabriela Nuñez, first female Minister of Finance (1998 - 2002).
· Victoria Asfura, first female President of the Central Bank of Honduras (2002-2006)
· Vilma Morales, first female President of the Supreme Court of Honduras (2002-2009)
· Ana Belén Castillo, first female President of the Honduran Autonomous University (2002)
· Patricia Rodas, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006-2009)
Honduran women-at-arms:
Colonel María Cárcamo, active in combat during civil strife during 1932 constitutional crisis.
Captain Elizabeth Handal, Aviation Captain, first Honduran woman pilot. She graduated from El Salvador’s Aviation school.
General Commissioner Coralia Rivera, first woman Director of National Police (2004).
Honduran women feminist writers:
Ana Mateo Arbizú Flores de Guardiola(1825-1903).
Francisca Paca Navas writer and feminist activist (1883-1971).
Lucila Gamero de Medina, writer and feminist activist (1873-1964).
Clementina Suárez, writer / poet (1902 – 1991).
Argentina Díaz Lozano, writer, first Honduran to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for literature (1912-1999).
Margarita Velasquez a.k.a Juana Pavón, feminist writer (1945 – 2019).
Amanda Castro, feminist writer ( 1962-2010).
Anarella Velez (1966- )
Rina Villars, author of For the Home not for the World: The suffragist movement and feminism in Honduras published in 2010.
SOURCES USED FOR THIS ARTICLE:
https://hondurasisgreat.org/mujer-hondurena-votar/ https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/noticias/25-de-enero-conmemoracion-del-derecho-del-voto-femenino-en-honduras/
https://presencia.unah.edu.hn/noticias/mujeres-que-han-sobresalido-en-la-historia-hondurena/ https://prezi.com/tvhollybssvf/los-comienzos-de-la-lucha-sufragista-en-honduras/ https://www.elheraldo.hn/pais/574523-214/dia-de-la-mujer-hondurena https://redhonduras.com/eventos/25-de-enero-dia-de-la-mujer-hondurena/ Freidenberg, Flavia. Women’s Political Representation in Honduras: A Comparative Perspective on Party Resistance and Inclusive Reform Proposals. Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM [Institute of Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico]. August 29, 2019.
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