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Politics
Women’s suffrage in Venezuela was first granted with the Constitution of 1947, which was considered the most politically and socially liberal compared to its predecessors. Women had started organising around the 1930s and 1940s with the death of the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez. But it was not until the 1950s that women from all social classes got involved and not only middle-class women. Women also participated in the guerilla struggles during the 1960s but they did not take leading roles due to the male-dominated organisational character of these combatant groups. In the 1970s through so-called Popular Women’s Circles (Círculos Femeninos Populares), women tried to organise autonomously, address the problems of poor women and assist them with health, education and employment initiatives. However, their dependence on outside funding and support of male ruled NGOs often constrained their goals.

With Hugo Chávez’s election for president a new constitution was adopted in 1999, which included the Article 21 that establishes the principle of equality and does not permit any discrimination “based on race, sex, creed or social standing”. The Chavismo movement brought also a resurgence in women’s participation in politics and the creation of a National Institute for Women (INAMujer). This organ supervised groups such as the Bolivarian Women’s Forces (Fuerzas Bolivarianas) and the Meeting Points (Puntos de Encuentro) which consisted of women who committed to Chávez and his administration and supported the programs they were implementing. These social programs provided the lower-class population with literacy, employment trainings, health care, assistance to obtain high school and university degrees and in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods also with daily meals. Although women were the main participants of these programs, they were not directed exclusively at women, but at the entire population.

Even though, women’s mobilisation increased in Chávez’s Venezuela, these women were not committing to a women’s agenda as other feminist groups were doing in Latin America at that time. Venezuelan women were focused in the defence of their leader, and while they did challenge some aspects of women’s subordination, they also rejected the idea of identifying with feminism. Feminists were seen as public militants with antifamily and men hating attitudes that threatened the established social order. The degree to which this rejection still holds today is unknown. At the present time there is no feminist movement in Venezuela but there are feminist collectives challenging women’s traditional roles in society and working to improve different women’s rights, such as access to abortion, stronger legislations to fight violence against women or better representation in public positions.

Representation
In 1997 the Article 144 of the Suffrage and Political Participation Organic Act established 30% women quota in the lists of the parliamentary candidates. In 2000 the National Electoral Council suspended this article, declaring it unconstitutional because it violated the equality principle of the Article 21. The expected consequence of this suspension was parity and an increase of the quota to 50%, but this has not been the case due to poor implementations and no measures being taken for infringements of legislations. Currently with Maduro’s presidency 38 out of 165 deputies in the National Assembly are women. Moreover, the number of ministries led by female politicians has decreased compared to Chávez’s last cabinet from 39% to 24%. The Supreme Court with 32 appointed judges (16 women and 16 men) is the only instance of public power in Venezuela that presents parity of gender in its members. At the community level women are increasingly present, which is crucial in the empowerment of lower-class barrio women. Nonetheless, these female leaders of communal councils have reported that their presence is ignored at the higher levels and they are being excluded from political opportunities.