Gender equality
Region countries have Instruments on E. Gender equality
Policies and instruments
Autonomy for women (economic, physical and in decision-making) constitutes an essential prerequisite not only for guaranteeing the full exercise of their rights but also for achieving sustainable development. While the region has made progress in implementing the Plan of Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), such progress has for the most part been mixed and uneven, and there remain important challenges that call for ongoing investments and government policies with respect to gender discrimination in the labour market, the sexual division of labour, violence against women, their social protection, and their sexual and reproductive health, among other matters.
This is the chapter of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development that contains the greatest number of priority measures (19), reflecting in part the great preoccupation with the issue and the intense discussion it attracts in specialized forums at the global and regional levels, such as the meetings held in follow-up to the World Conference on Women and the sessions of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Priority Measures
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Institutional mechanisms for women's autonomy and gender equality
Fulfil the commitment to strengthen institutional machineries in order to build development policies with equality that will guarantee the autonomy of women and gender equality, and give these machineries the autonomy and the necessary human and financial resources to enable them to have a cross-cutting impact on the structure of the State, recognizing the strategic role that they play and establishing them at the highest level. -
Equal participation of women in high-level decision-making
Fulfil the commitment to increase and enhance opportunities for the equal participation of women in adopting and implementing policies in all spheres of public authority and in high-level decision-making. -
Gender approach in the preparation, implementation and accountability of budgets
Take steps to promote and strengthen the preparation, implementation and accountability of gender-sensitive budgets, in order to achieve equal spending in the public sector, the inclusion of the principles of gender equality in the different stages of planning, budgeting and meeting the specific social needs of women and men. -
Public policies with a gender perspective
Fulfil the commitment to promote and ensure gender mainstreaming and its intersection with perspectives on race, ethnicity, age, social class and disability status in all public policies, especially in economic and cultural policies, and coordination between branches of government and social stakeholders, including organizations of young, Afro-descendent or indigenous women, to ensure gender equality. -
Gender parity and mechanisms that guarantee access to power. of women, in electoral processes
Promote parity and other mechanisms to ensure access to power in electoral systems as a precondition for democracy and a target for eradicating the structural exclusion of women in society, which affects mainly those in vulnerable situations, by training women leaders. -
Prevent, punish and eradicate political and administrative harassment against women
Adopt legislative measures and institutional reforms to prevent, punish and eradicate political and administrative harassment of women who reach decision-making positions through electoral means or by appointment at national and local levels, as well as in political parties and movements. -
Policies and care services
Develop and strengthen policies and universal care services based on the highest human rights standards, from a gender equality and intergenerational perspective, in order to share the delivery of services between the State, the private sector, civil society, families and households and between men and women and facilitate dialogue and coordination between all the parties involved. -
Labor equality
Promote legislation and design and strengthen public policies on equality in the labour market in order to eliminate gender discrimination and asymmetries in relation to access to decent employment, job security, wages and decision-making on labour issues, as well as to recognize the productive value of unpaid domestic work and care work. -
Participation of women in decision-making and high-level positions
Strengthen the participation of women in high-level and decision-making positions in companies and support the training of men and women during hours that are compatible with their family life, and encourage businesswomen to adopt leadership roles. -
Protection against harassment and sexual harassment
Establish mechanisms for preventing sexual and other forms of harassment and violence against women and men, especially in the workplace and educational settings, as well as for filing relevant complaints and punishing such practices. -
Eradication of all forms of violence
Enforce existing policies and adopt, on the one hand, preventative and punitive measures, and on the other measures for protecting and caring for women in order to eradicate all forms of violence, including forced sterilization and stigma against women in public and private spheres and especially the gender-motivated violent murder of girls and women, and ensure effective and universal access to fundamental services for all victims and survivors of gender-based violence, with special attention to women in high-risk situations, such as older women, pregnant women, women with disabilities, culturally diverse groups, sex workers, women living with HIV/AIDS, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, Afro-descendent, indigenous and migrant women, women living in border areas, asylum-seekers and victims of trafficking. -
Justice with a gender perspective
Reaffirm the commitment and political will of Latin America and the Caribbean, at the highest level, to combat and eliminate all forms of discrimination and violence against women, including domestic violence and femicide/feminicide, and actively promote awareness-raising regarding gender mainstreaming among law enforcement personnel. -
New masculinity
Broaden the access available to men, including boys, adolescents and young men, to sexual and reproductive health-related information, counselling and services and promote the equal participation of men in care work through programmes for raising men’s awareness of gender equality, and foster the development of new masculinities. -
Reduction of disparities in the education system
Develop and strengthen plans and programmes for addressing disparities in the representation and performance of boys and young men in the education system, especially in the English-speaking Caribbean. -
Domestic work
Ensure the sharing of responsibility between the State, the private sector, the community, families, women and men for unpaid domestic and care work, incorporating care into social protection systems through allowances, services and benefits that maximize women’s autonomy and guarantee their rights, dignity, well-being and enjoyment of free time. -
Recognition of the contribution of women to social development
Improve statistical systems, official indicators and administrative records, mainstreaming the gender perspective and advancing towards the full recognition of women’s economic and social contribution to the development of society. -
Gender statistics
Strengthen the capacity of countries to prepare and disseminate the gender statistics needed for the formulation of public policies on gender equality and the empowerment of women. -
Unpaid work in systems of national accounts
Consider measuring the care economy using specialized accounts and the creation of satellite accounts on unpaid work, and the incorporation of such accounts in the system of national accounts. -
Specialized care in cases of violence
Implement, with the support of available technologies, multisectoral, comprehensive, integrated, coordinated, interdisciplinary and accessible services, programmes and actions targeting women that are sustainable at all levels, include specialized and confidential care in cases of violence, have sufficient resources available and that bring together sectors such as the police, the judiciary, medical and psychological services and evaluation, including sexual and reproductive health services, as well as opportunities for training and generating earnings, with a view to promoting women’s autonomy in all its forms.
Instruments
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Creación y funcionamiento de Unidades de Género en las instituciones del Estado (Incluido en decreto N° 645)
Velar por el cumplimiento de la Ley de Igualdad, Equidad y Erradicación de la Discriminación contra las Mujeres.
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Protocolo de Prevención y Atención de Situaciones de Violencia en el Ámbito Laboral
Surge como parte de un compromosio de ambas partes de prevenir las situaciones que puedan presentarse de violencia en el ámbito laboral, así como tener
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Protocolo de Actuación ante situaciones de Acoso sexual en el ambito laboral y relaciones docente-alumno del inciso 03
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Estrategia Nacional para la Igualdad de Género 2030
Indicators
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Existence of systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
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Incorporation of gender equality into the minimum content of basic and secondary school curricula, including the issue of discrimination on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.
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Incorporation of gender equality into the minimum content of basic and secondary school curricula, including the issue of discrimination on grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.
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Proportion of women aged 15 years or older subjected to physical, sexual or psychological violence, in the previous 12 months, by form of violence, by age and by whether the violent act was perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner or not.
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Number (and percentage) of reported cases of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity that are resolved through formal redress mechanisms.
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Rate of femicide or feminicide (gender-related killings of women aged 15 years and older per 100,000 women).
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Existence of gender-based violence prevention and care policies that have an earmarked budget.
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Percentage of official indicators at the population level that are disaggregated by sex.
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Percentage of official systems of indicators that incorporate the gender perspective by sector.
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Percentage of government budgets with funds specifically allocated to gender equality.
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Percentage of municipal and local governments that have gender mechanisms for the advancement of women.
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Existence of legislation and rules to sanction and punish political harassment of women.
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Existence of laws and policies that ensure parity and women’s access to power.
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Proportion of seats held by women in (a) national parliaments and (b) local governments.
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Proportion of women in managerial positions.
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Total time worked (number of working hours paid and unpaid), by sex.
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Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location.