Gobierno de Reconciliación y Unidad Nacional
Unida Nicaragua Triunfa
WEBINAR “NICARAGUA’S AMAZING ADVANCES IN
GENDER EQUITY”
Sunday, 10th October 2021
INTRODUCTION
My name is Shaira Natasha Downs Morgan. I was born in beautiful Corn Island on the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast on the 21st of May 1984. I come from a creole-afrodescendant family and my parents, who are also islanders, have been dedicated to fishery and tourism, which are the main economic activities in Corn Island.
My parents, Devorn Downs and Kerry Morgan, had 9 children, and they taught all of us the value of hard work and discipline from a very young age, as well as the importance of caring for our community. I have always felt a sense of responsibility toward my People. I think that’s why I got involved in politics.
Creole English is my native language and I was able to study both in English and Spanish during my primary and secondary education. This is one of the advantages of being from the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast. Because of the Autonomy Process, Education, in the languages of the afrodescendant and indigenous peoples, is guaranteed.
One of the most difficult challenges I have faced was in 2001, after graduating from high school in Corn Island and having to move to Managua to seek a university degree during the neoliberal government of Enrique Bolaños. I decided to study business administration, but I quickly realized that I would have to adapt to a new culture and to an education system that was only in Spanish. This was very hard at first, but with the help of my family, friends, and teachers I was able to obtain my degree.
This experience, along with my love for community development, convinced me of the importance of helping to strengthen the Autonomy Process of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and to create more opportunities for young women to receive an education in their own languages and in their own communities, in order to move ahead in life. Up until 2007, there were not very many women leaders on the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast, which is something I committed myself to change.
In 2008, I was elected to the municipal council of Corn Island for the FSLN, from where I was able to focus on promoting tourism, access to health and education, security, and recreation for my hometown. This was a wonderful experience.
After that, in 2014, the FSLN nominated me as a candidate to the Regional Autonomous Council and I was elected in March of that same year. This was also the first time the Regional Autonomous Council would be composed by a 50% representation of women, because of reforms to the National Electoral Law and the Political Constitution. So, I took office along with another 20 women and 24 men.
In 2016 my fellow regional councilmen and women voted for me to become the Governor of the Southern Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, the highest Executive Position within the Regional Council and; after being reelected to the Regional Council in 2019, I became the President of the Directive Board of the Regional Council, which is the highest Legislative Office of the Region. I have tried to perform these different tasks with pride and to the best of my abilities.
PART II – NICARAGUA’S AMAZING ADVANCES IN GENDER EQUITY
Although girls and women in Nicaragua face many of the same challenges as most other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, our history of struggle against imperialism, dictatorship, and oligarchic rule, has forced women to assume responsibilities in almost every sector of society.
Nicaragua women are strong and bold, having been active participants in Sandino’s army as soldiers, journalists, and activists, fighting against U.S. military interventionism. Likewise, during the Sandinista Popular Revolution, women were at the front of the fight.
Caribbean Indigenous and Afrodescendant women also played a fundamental role in defending Nicaragua’s right to freedom and independence during the 1980’s, as soldiers, police officers, government officials, diplomats, photographers and community organizers, when we faced the contra-revolutionary war.
They were also actively engaged in the national consultation process that allowed for the approval of the Political Constitution of 1987, which establishes in its Article 8 that: “Nicaragua is a multi-ethnic and multicultural country.” This statement represented a momentous achievement, as it was the first time that a Latin American or Caribbean country accepted and recognized the ethnic and cultural diversity of its nation. From a legal perspective, it provided a true sense of citizenship for the indigenous and afrodescendant peoples of the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast.
This groundbreaking Political Constitution also created the basis for the approval of the Autonomy Law, Law number 28, in September of 1987. Autonomy is a decentralized system of government within the framework of the unity of the Nicaraguan State, which provides for the legal recognition and effective exercise of the economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental rights of indigenous, afrodescendant, and mestizo peoples of the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast.
Nicaraguan women therefore, have always been Champions, and the Sandinista Revolution, as well as our Political Constitution of 1987, is further evidence to that fact. This is why, after 16 years of Neoliberal Governments, between 1990 and 2006, the Government of the FSLN, immediately began focusing on women’s rights. This included policies to ensure education, health, employment, production, security and combating violence against women in all of its manifestations. Human Development aimed at creating better opportunities for everyone without distinction, became the main goal, with economic growth as just one important pillar.
The efforts of the FSLN government has allowed us to achieve an 80% reduction in inequality between men and women from 2006 to 2014. Worldwide, Nicaragua ranks sixth in terms of gender equity, and first in the Americas, far ahead of the United States, Canada, Brazil, or
Colombia. We rank fifth in terms of participation of women in Parliament and first in Ministerial level positions, according to the World Economic Forum.
Women represent 59% of the Judiciary, 56% of the Executive, 45% of the National Assembly, 46% of Mayors, 60% of Vice Mayors and 50% of Councilmen and women, occupying the most important positions of the State and Government, including Vice President of the Republic, President of the Supreme Court of Justice, President of the Supreme Electoral Council, Vice President of the National Assembly, General Prosecutor, Attorney General, Minister of Defense, Minister of the Interior, Minister for Family and Community Economy, Director of the Board of Tourism, Ombudsman for Human Rights, and Mayor of the Capital City of Managua.
Women occupy 57% of the Directive Board of the National Assembly, 51% of the Magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Council, 31% of the Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, 50% of the General Comptroller’s Office and 57% of the Board of the Central Bank.
These statistics underline the fact that women are steering the development of Nicaragua, just as much as men; investing their talents, creativity, knowledge and capacities in building a better and brighter future for all of us. There is no greater democratic victory a country can achieve, than guaranteeing equal participation for women.
In Nicaragua women are the key protagonists of the “houses for the people”, “zero hunger” and “zero usury programs” that seek to provide poor-single-mother-families with housing, means of production and affordable credit, in order for them to participate, on equal footing, in rural agricultural, food sovereignty and production activities.
Since 2007, the Government of Nicaragua has resolved over 750,000 land claims and has issued over 150,000 new land deeds to urban and rural families, most of which have benefitted women directly.
Universal and free education, along with important programs that provide daily school meals, backpacks, shoes and glasses to students, has allowed for children to remain in school and has created more opportunities for mothers to join the workforce.
Nicaragua is currently ranked as the safest country in Central America, because of the success of its community policing system. This has also provided greater protection for girls and women against gender based violence, sexual harassment, prostitution and trafficking in persons. Women’s Commissaries have been established throughout the country and the Special Unit for Violence Against Women was created within the General Prosecutor’s Office, in order to ensure that violent crimes against women are prosecuted in a thorough and timely manner, preventing impunity and mitigating trauma. This effort also includes psychological attention for victims and greater protection of the economic rights of women, as established within the Law Against Violence Toward Women (Law 779).
On the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, women are also playing a central role, having participated in the creation of the Development Strategy for the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast. Through this strategy that was prepared in close collaboration with regional, territorial, and municipal authorities, civil society organizations, churches, universities and cultural leaders, etc., illiteracy was reduced from 58% in 2006 to 9% in 2020 and enrollment in education at all levels, has almost doubled. Determined support for higher learning has allowed the universities of the Nicaragua Caribbean Coast, BICU and URACCAN, to enroll over 12,000 students, more than half of which are young women, who can now receive quality and culturally pertinent education in the Autonomous Regions, without having to travel to Managua or abroad.
Investments in health went from just $32 per person in 2006 to $72 today, allowing for health care indicators such as maternal mortality, to be reduced from 243 to 95 deaths for every 100 thousand live births, and infant mortality fell from 49 to 27 per every thousand. Primary Care Services ensure that women receive adequate prenatal care and are able to reach a primary hospital in less than 24 hours. Gynecology and oncology services are provided in primary hospitals, as well as in the city of Bluefields, which has allowed us to improve reproductive health and to detect and treat dangerous diseases such as cervical cancer, greatly improving chances of survival.
Care is also available for patients that suffer from diabetes, hypertension, heart conditions and other chronic non-communicable diseases. The new “Ethel Kandler” hospital was built in Corn Island and another major hospital is currently being built in Bilwi, on the Nicaragua Northern Caribbean Coast. Likewise, maternal homes, health centers, mobile clinics, health posts, blood banks and milk banks have been built, remodeled or equipped in both Autonomous Regions since 2006, an extraordinary achievement that shows how united and committed we are to improving the living conditions of our People.
Potable water coverage has increased from 4% to 60%; paved roads grew from only 140km to over 700km, allowing for the Caribbean Coast to be really connected to the rest of the country for the first time in our history; electricity coverage in both Autonomous Regions grew from 19.2% to 98%, which means that even the most remote and poor indigenous and afro-descendant communities are receiving the electricity they need to work, study, play sports and enjoy recreation, even at night. All of these victories represent fundamental improvements in the quality of life of the population.
The People of Nicaragua are determined to continue advancing on this path of prosperity, with women, afrodescendant and indigenous peoples, youth, small farmers, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and everyone else, working together as part of this model that we call “THE PEOPLE PRESIDENT.” We will never allow the victories that we have achieved by working so hard, to be undermined by the personal ambitions of a treacherous few or by the imperialistic policies of foreign governments. We believe in a Democracy and a Future in which all Nicaraguans can participate and feel represented. That’s why we are preparing, more than ever before, to participate in the November 7th elections, when the Nicaraguan People, in all of its diversity, will vote for Sovereignty, Independence and the Right to Self-determination. We will vote to ensure that Nicaragua continues to grow and Prosper in Peace, with Stability and Equality.
Thank You Very Much.