LIBRARY

Bolivia – “Women in Local Politics Face Special Challenges”
By Bernarda Claure

6 February 2007

Source: IPS News Service

LA PAZ, Feb 6 (IPS) - Bertha Acarapi, who wears the traditional dress of an Aymara Indian woman, is a town councillor in El Alto, the sprawling slum city of one million people next to the Bolivian capital.

Acarapi and 336 other women hold seats on 329 town councils in Bolivia. But many of them never made it to secondary school, which puts them at a significant disadvantage when it comes to having an influence in representing their communities.

This observation is not meant to be offensive, the head of the Association of Women Town Councillors of Bolivia (ACOBOL), María Eugenia Pinto, told IPS.