Piscopo

• Over the past few decades, countries across Latin America have witnessed a surge in demands by its people for increased political participation and representation.
• Colombia and Chile stand out as notable examples of countries responding to these calls with constitutional reform.
• It represented a turning point in the country’s history by acknowledging the multicultural fabric of Colombian society, including Indigenous communities and Afro-Colombian populations.

Crowdsourcing the constitution

• “If a constitution becomes a stagnant in the past, that constitution is not able, is not relevant anymore.” To reflect those shifts, countries can either enact legislation to supplement the constitution, or they can specify the meaning of the constitution without changing the wording.
• But in certain instances, simple amendments of a constitution might not be enough to reflect those social shifts.
• “And when there is a big gap between the constitution text and the constitutional reality,” Bernal adds, “the constitution must be replaced to create a new institutional framework that is able to regulate your society.”

Political inclusion

• Her work focuses on representation, gender quotas and legislative institutions in Latin America, and how countries involve underrepresented groups in political processes.
• She says that during Latin America’s democratic transition in the 1980s, “women were very active in the human rights movements that criticized the abuses under authoritarian governments.
• This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany, who is also the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly.
• She is a Senior Advisor to the Gender Equity Policy Institute in Los Angeles, United States.