Gender Inequity, a Structural Feature of Latin America
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- Published: Thursday, 04 October 2018 15:31
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Photo: Cadenagamonte.Panama, Oct 4.- The same as in most countries of the world, inequalities between women and men in access to the labor market and work conditions, persist in Latin America and the Caribbean. 'It continues being a structural condition in the entire region and it limits the autonomy of women: physical autonomy, political autonomy and, especially, economic autonomy', says Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Despite advances, the rate of labor participation of women is stagnant at around 52 percent (for men it reaches 76.6 percent), according to data of ECLAC.
The rates of unemployment keep being significantly greater in the case of women (10.7 percent versus 7.6 percent of men) and half the employed women are in sectors of low productivity, such as domestic and the non-qualified independent work, with precarious working conditions, low salaries and long hours.
Also, they still receive salaries 16.1 percent lower than men in equal situation.
Today we face an uncertain and complex international context, which includes the emergency of trade and geopolitical conflicts, besides the increasing financial volatility at global level, explained Barcena.
She added that the financial sector is ever more concentrated and interconnected among a few factors and countries, increasingly disconnected from the real economy and people’s needs.
The macroeconomic policies should be sensitive to gender inequalities, as women end buffering the economic shocks in the periods of crisis, instability or recession, mainly through a non-remunerated work overload, buffering the economic shocks in the periods of crisis, stressed the official.
In the opinion of Deborah Greenfield, Joint Director General of Policies of the International Labor Organization (ILO), 'despite the progress made and the commitments assumed to advance even more, the perspective of women in the labor market still are much distant from being equal to that of men'.
The elimination of the mentioned differences should keep being an absolute priority if we want to reach gender equality and empower all women and girls from here to 2030, said Damian Grimshaw, Director of the Research Department of ILO.
Precisely, the persistent gaps and discriminations in gender and by ethnic groups, take part of the agenda of the 10th American Regional Meeting of the ILO that sessions until tomorrow in the Panamanian capital with the participation of government, employers and workers representatives of some 30 countries of the region. (Cadenagramonte)
