Gender equality

Chapter

Region countries have Instruments on E. Gender equality

Policies and instruments

Gender equality is an indispensable requirement for the exercise of human rights, the reduction of social gaps, sustainable development, and the eradication of poverty. In Latin America and the Caribbean, advancing toward substantive equality requires addressing the structural causes that perpetuate gender inequalities through comprehensive public policies with a cross-cutting and intersectional approach, recognizing the multiple forms of discrimination that women face.

Although the region has made progress in implementing the commitments undertaken in the Beijing Platform for Action and in the Regional Gender Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Tlatelolco Commitment adopted at the XVI Regional Conference on Women, these advances have been uneven. Their implementation requires state policies, sustained resources, strong institutions, gender-responsive budgets, and effective mechanisms for implementation, monitoring, and accountability, supported by information systems and disaggregated statistics to guide and evaluate public policies.

In this context, achieving substantive equality requires guaranteeing women’s physical, economic, and decision-making autonomy; promoting equal participation; preventing and eradicating discrimination and gender-based violence, ensuring access to justice; guaranteeing equal opportunities, equal pay, social protection, and sexual and reproductive health services; and advancing toward comprehensive care systems based on co-responsibility among the State, the market, communities, and families.

Chapter E brings together the largest number of priority measures (19) in the Montevideo Consensus. Since its adoption, it has served as a reference framework for strengthening regulatory frameworks, public policies, gender institutions, regional cooperation, monitoring, and information systems, contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Priority Measures

E.47 - Institutional mechanisms for women's autonomy and gender equality

47

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.
E.48 - Equal participation of women in high-level decision-making

48

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.
E.49 - Gender approach in the preparation, implementation and accountability of budgets

49

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.
E.50 - Public policies with a gender perspective

50

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.
E.51 - Gender parity and mechanisms that guarantee access to power. of women, in electoral processes

51

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.
E.52 - Prevent, punish and eradicate political and administrative harassment against women

52

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.
E.53 - Policies and care services

53

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.
E.54 - Labor equality

54

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.
E.55 - Participation of women in decision-making and high-level positions

55

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.
E.56 - Protection against harassment and sexual harassment

56

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.
E.57 - Eradication of all forms of violence

57

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.
E.58 - Justice with a gender perspective

58

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.
E.59 - New masculinity

59

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.
E.60 - Reduction of disparities in the education system

60

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.
E.61 - Domestic work

61

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.
E.62 - Recognition of the contribution of women to social development

62

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.
E.63 - Gender statistics

63

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.
E.64 - Unpaid work in systems of national accounts

64

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.
E.65 - Specialized care in cases of violence

65

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

The National Workplace Policy On Sexual Harassment

The implementation of a National Workplace Policy on Sexual Harassment will help to decrease the incidences of gender inequality.
The National Workplace Policy On HIV And AIDS

The Policy provides the framework for action that sets out the national standards to be adhered to by all employers, employees, organisations that represent employers
The On The Job Training (OJT) Programme

The On the Job Training (OJT) Programme is a pre-employment programme which offers participants between the ages of 16-35 an induction into the world of
National Hiv And Aids Policy Of Trinidad And Tobago (A Green Paper)

The National HIV and AIDS Policy 2020-2030 seeks to place the focus on vulnerable and key populations who are most at risk of being affected

SDG

Indicators