Former President of the Republic of Ecuador, H.E Rosalia Arteaga Serrano has opened up about her experience serving as the nation’s first President and Vice-President.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Natalie Fort, during the StarrWoman segment of The Natalie Fort Show on GHOneTV, she described the experience as a challenging one.
Arteaga became Vice-President of Ecuador in 1996, following the election of Abdalá Bucaram as President. However, on February 6 1997, President Bucaram was declared unfit to govern by Congress. Due to the lack of clarity in Ecuador’s constitution on who was to take up the position of President, Rosalia Arteaga became President in 1997 after a long dispute between her and Congressional leader, Fabián Alarcón.
A coup d’etat was later staged with the support of congress and the army, which led to Fabián Alarcón being sworn in as President, whilst Arteaga was reverted to her post as Vice President. Speaking with GHOneTV’s Natalie Fort she described that incident as unfortunate, noting she expected both the army and congress to instead respect the rule of law.
“It was significant for me to lead during those days, it was in the year 1997 at a time were many people both in Ecuador and globally didn’t think a woman was in the position to lead a nation; this coupled with the coup d’etat made the experience even more challenging,” said Former President Arteaga.
According to statistics from UN Women, as of September 1 2021, there were 26 women serving as Heads of State and/or Government in 24 countries; with only 10 countries having a woman Head of State, and 13 countries having a woman Head of Government.
H.E Rosalia Arteaga attributed this to low self-esteem amongst women to take up leadership positions in politics, as well as the little regard placed on the positive impact of women in political leadership.
“The world will be much better with more women in leadership across varied sectors; from politics to business and sports.” She encouraged more women to take up leadership positions in politics, and not shy away from the task in spite of the immense responsibility involved.
Women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
H.E Rosalia Arteaga spoke on the StarrWoman segment of The Natalie Fort Show; which seeks to highlight the contribution of women in Ghana and across the globe. The Natalie Fort Show airs every Sunday at 7PM on GHOneTV, and on Facebook at GHOneTV.
Source: Natalie Fort
