Gender Institutions and Public Policies, Advances and Setbacks in Latin America

Photo: Municipalidad de Maipú (Chile), Flickr

"The recognition of women as a subject of rights is undergoing a complex series of advances and setbacks that include persistent obstacles limiting women's economic, political and physical autonomy, at the same time as the emergence of new female leadership and the recognition of the importance of an equality agenda by many sectors of society".

This is the current regional context described by Sonia Montaño, Director of the ECLAC Division for Gender Affairs and Division consultant, Virgina Guzmán, in the recently published document Gender institutions and public policies in Latin America (1985-2010) (only in Spanish).

In the study, the authors put forward a conceptual framework and a socio-historical interpretation of the process of institutionalizing gender policies in Latin America, wherein advances are demonstrated in different ways.

Examples include the dissemination of new discourses on male-female relations, the enactment of new laws, the drafting of new rules and the formation of State agencies and interactive networks among public, private and social actors in public policymaking spaces.

According to the document by Montaño and Guzmán, the feminist movement and State machineries for the advancement of women have been the strategic players in the incorporation of new policy concepts and forms of management in each of the region's States.

"Most national machineries in Latin America were set up between 1980 and 1990 in the form of commissions, divisions, offices or councils in ministries responsible for social policy areas such as family, health and education".

Nowadays, advances and setbacks alike have led to a third of such entities reaching a position in the hierarchy that enables their most senior authority to be part of the ministerial cabinet, interministerial commissions and coordination bodies where policymaking takes place.

According to the two experts, most of these mechanisms have "Equal Opportunity Plans and real road maps for mainstreaming gender in public policies and establishing links with various State authorities".

Having said that, in Latin America women are mainly appointed to ministerial posts in the social and cultural spheres, much more than to political and economic posts.

Montaño and Guzmán state that "Electoral systems, party structures, male leaders' resistance to power redistribution and the veto of churches have been identified as major obstacles to the institutionalization of gender. Such resistance are also triggered when it comes to increasing women's political representation or guaranteeing autonomy and respect for their individual rights".

This study from the ECLAC Division for Gender Affairs is based on information from evaluations and self-evaluations of machineries for the advancement of women and the results of other studies carried out by civil society organizations, research centres or the Division itself.