Fed up with seeing their concerns sidelined, PoletikaH and more than 70 women's organisations came together to launch on September 12 a feminist political agenda to serve as a measuring stick to scrutinise the presidential candidates' focus on the problems women face ahead of the November 26 election. [...]
One woman is murdered every 14 hours in a femicide crisis that has reached epidemic levels in the wake of the 2009 US-backed military coup, which briefly put Roberto Micheletti in power as president before Porfirio Lobo Sosa of the conservative National Party won national elections later that year.
Under strict rules outlawing abortion, women can face up to six years behind bars for seeking to end a pregnancy.
In the most unequal country in Latin America, according to World Bank data, women also disproportionately suffer the brunt of poverty, a global trend recognised by UN Women, the agency that deals with gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide. [...]
The agenda details policy demands related to seven issues: violence and femicide, feminisation of poverty, institutionality and budgets, non-sexist education, reproductive health, political participation, and indigenous rights.
Among other proposals, it calls for introducing comprehensive laws on gender violence, sexual education, and agrarian reform with gender equity. It also advocates repealing laws that limit women's access to common goods, such as the controversial Mining Law and Seeds Law. [...]
President Hernandez is the first sitting or former president to seek a second term in office after a contentious 2015 Supreme Court ruling changed the constitution to allow re-election. Critics say only the Honduran people have the power to modify the constitution, rendering Hernandez' candidacy illegitimate.
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