On July 6th, Haitians across the country were glued to televisions screens as they cheered on the Brazilian national team in the World Cup match against Belgium. While many Haitians were enthralled with the passion of World Cup soccer, the Haitian government was silently carrying out an agenda that would shake the country to its core.
Over a decade ago, Tarana Burke founded the “Me Too” Movement to help provide resources and recovery aids to victims of sexual assault and harassment, particularly low-income women of color. The movement began at the local level where Tarana Burke worked to help communities provide rape crisis centers and sexual assault counseling. In an interview with CNN, Burke explained that the phrase “Me Too” was meant to invoke both a feeling of courage and of unity between victims.
Nicaragua’s current President, Daniel Ortega, rose to power as a revolutionary leader in the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (otherwise known as FSLN or Sandistas) that overthrew the dictatorship by removing President Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979 (Perez). In 2007, Ortega was elected as president and because of his sound economic policies and social spending, was re-elected in 2011 and 2016 (Perez).
Just last week, Mexico entered a new chapter in history as Andrés Manuel López Obrador, better known as AMLO, secured his position as future president of Mexico in this year’s highly anticipated elections. López Obrador, who founded his own leftist party MORENA (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional) in 2012, led a highly controversial campaign in the past year which led him to decisive victory.
Argentina has drawn widespread attention in the past couple of weeks as the Argentinian Congress took it’s first step towards legalizing abortion for women up to 14 weeks. On June 14th, the bill officially passed the House by 129 to 125 votes after a 23-hour strenuous debate (Politi and Ellis). If the Senate approves the abortion bill in the next hurdle for women’s rights, then President Macri has agreed to sign the law into effect.
Brazil is one of the countries with the lowest rates of female representation in political power. The report of the International Union of Parliaments (IPU) shows Brazil in 151th position (in 193 countries). The representation in the Chamber of Deputies meets only 10%. The proportions are also low in municipalities and state level governments. Currently, there is just one women as a governor (among 27) and, in 2016 elections, women were just 12.57% of the candidates for mayors.
