Video Q&A: Panama's Paulina de Franceschi on Why We Need More Women in Public Office

On the sidelines of the Women Hemispheric Network annual conference in New York, Panama's Deputy Ambassador at the UN Paulina de Franceschi spoke with AS/COA Online about the importance of increasing the number of women in public office. Franceschi explained how public policy can change once women have decision-making positions in government. She said that in Panama, once women were incorporated into goverment, that policymaking evolved. "We started to see public policies related to family, to society, to community, to women, to children, that before then we would not see," she said.

"We cannot think about development without women in the equation," Franceschi explains. For her, education for both men and women about female leadership potential is the main ingredient to achieve gender parity in Latin America. 

Learn more about AS/COA's Women's Hemispheric Network at: http://www.as-coa.org/women