Right to equality of women in the conformation of decisional institutions of the State

C- 371 /00  Right to equality of women in the conformation of decisional institutions of the State

Through this sentence, the Plenary of the Court reviewed a statutory law project that regulated the effective participation of women in the different decisional levels of the branches and institutions of public power. This project established that starting from September 1^st of 1999 and on, a minimum of 30% of the charges belonging to both the maximum level of decision and other levels of decision  institutions of the State should be held by women. It also contemplated a sanction to the appointing authorities if they were to breach the rule, which consisted on a suspension of 30 days, and in case of continuing, the destitution.

Once analyzed the procedure followed in the Congress, the magistrates observed that the objective of the project consisted on ensuring a real and effective equality of opportunities, which is a legitimate constitutional end, nevertheless some of the means proposed to achieve that goal didn’t respected the Constitution, vgr., some of the sanctions that the project aimed to impose as a consequence of its disregard were considered by the Court as disproportional and the inferences on the political parties consigned in the project to ensure minimum participation of women affected illegitimately the freedom to constitute and participate in political parties consecrated by the articles 40, 107 and 108 of the Constitution.