Intergenerational relations: creating a world for all ages so that no one is left behind

This paper, prepared jointly by the five regional commissions of the United Nations, explores the social and economic challenges and opportunities of demographic shifts towards multigenerational societies across the countries covered by the five regional commissions. It discusses the latest evidence on demographic trends and intergenerational relations, labour markets, social protection, care, living arrangements and digitalization across regions, and it provides recommendations to build societies for all ages. With a strong interdisciplinary and interregional focus, the paper addresses interg…

Guidelines for mainstreaming the gender perspective in statistical production

In order to generate data that accurately capture the persistence and magnitude of societal inequalities, the gender and intersectional perspectives must be mainstreamed into statistical production. As noted in the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework by 2030 (2016), it is also crucial for “transforming data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into political decisions” (ECLAC, 2017a). Official statistics are therefore an indispensable source of information for use in the design and implementatio…

Report of the international meeting of experts on the theme “Measuring gender-based violence against women and girls: lessons learned and challenges”

Within the framework of the XXIV International Meeting on Gender Statistics held in September 2023 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, the international meeting of experts was convened to analyse strategies for measuring the prevalence and incidence of gender-based violence against women and girls and the progress made in the region in developing statistical operations, registry systems and tools to measure the magnitude and occurrence of gender-based violence. The meeting identified the main challenges and recommendations in the area of surveys, single registries of gender-based violence and administr…

International trade as an opportunity to promote women’s economic autonomy: contributions for reflection in Latin America and the Caribbean

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean face structural challenges related to the region’s pattern of productive and trade specialization; and these are compounded by persistent gender inequalities, both in labour markets and in the social organization of care. Poorly diversified production and vulnerability to external shocks make it more difficult to achieve gender equality. These factors detract from labour market dynamism, restrict the exploitation of capacities and lead to an unequal distribution of the benefits of growth and the costs of economic adjustments. Moreover, violence …

Santiago Commitment. Accessible version

The Santiago Commitment was adopted at the fourteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Americas and the Caribbean Regional Office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the Government of Chile, and held in Santiago from 27 to 31 January 2020.…

Buenos Aires Commitment. Accessible version

The Buenos Aires Commitment was adopted at the fifteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the Government of Argentina and held in Buenos Aires from 7 to 11 November 2022. The Buenos Aires Commitment charts a path towards a care society, with agreements in new areas for transformative recovery with gender equalit…

Ten years of feminist foreign policy and feminist international development cooperation policy: an opportunity for Latin America and the Caribbean

In the last decade, there has been a trend within a group of 12 countries and among various international organizations for foreign policy and international development cooperation policy to be used to accelerate the attainment of gender equality and respect for the human rights of women and girls in their diversity, from a feminist perspective. This trend is constantly widening and deepening. This document analyses the emergence and evolution of feminist foreign policy and feminist international development cooperation policy in 12 countries, with an emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbea…

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean: gender indicators up to 2023

Latin America and the Caribbean is in the midst of cascading crises that are deepening historical and structural inequalities and which disproportionately affect women. It is therefore urgent for the countries of the region to speed up progress towards achieving gender equality and the full exercise of the rights of women, adolescent girls and girls in all their diversity. This document presents a descriptive analysis of the gender indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda and the prioritized set of indicators for regional follow-up of the SDGs, in l…

Design and implementation of the District Care System of Bogotá: a political, social and fiscal covenant

In recent years, cascading crises, including the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, have highlighted the unjust social organization of care and the need for a new development model centred on care and the sustainability of life (ECLAC, 2022). These crises present an opportunity to design bold policies and to transition to a care society that prioritizes people and the planet (ECLAC, 2022). In the Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted at the fifteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the member States of the Economic Commission for Latin America a…

Educating the future workforce

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 3

Child marriages and early unions: inequality and poverty among women, girls and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean

Child, early and forced marriages and unions are defined as a union in which at least one of the parties is under the age of 18. The overwhelming majority of formal and informal child marriages and unions involve girls, although in some cases their male spouses are also under 18. As stated in the Joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on harmful practices, and Human Rights Council resolution 29/8 of 2 July 2015, on strengthening efforts to prevent and eliminate ch…

The Hummingbird Vol. 10 No. 12

Gender equality and the care society

This article reviews the conceptual contributions of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the understanding of gender inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean over recent decades. Having examined the information available, it analyses the persistence of the sexual division of labour as a structural challenge of gender inequality and then presents the ECLAC proposal for a move towards a new model of development and social organization, namely the care society, and its implications for public policy design in the region.…

Preventing femicides: an obligation for States and a persistent challenge in the region

The UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign of the Secretary General of the United Nations, which has been under way since 2008, aims to prevent and eliminate gender-based violence against women and girls worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2021) estimates that 31% of women aged 15–49 have experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner and sexual violence inflicted by others. This multi-stakeholder campaign is part of the United Nations system’s efforts to support Latin American and Caribbean States in fulfilling their due diligence obligation to prevent, inve…

Public policies for gender equality in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM): challenges for the economic autonomy of women and transformative recovery in Latin America

The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, commonly referred to by the acronym STEM, have emerged as a promising area in which to address the current digital revolution and accelerated technological change, exacerbated and complicated by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Can STEM serve as a path to gender equality and economic autonomy for women in Latin America? The question is gaining ground. This report addresses an ongoing debate in the region in recent decades that must be reframed to meet an urgent need for new solutions and, above all, to transcend one-di…

Bringing an end to violence against women and girls and femicide or feminicide: a key challenge for building a care society

Violence against women and girls and its most extreme expression, femicide, feminicide, or the gender-related killing of women and girls,1 dramatically bring to light the persistence of the structural challenges of gender inequality and gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. The deep historical and structural roots of patriarchal, discriminatory and violent cultural patterns, grounded in a culture of privilege, have proven among the most difficult to dismantle. Gender-based violence against women and girls is systemic and persistent…

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2022

Since its establishment in 1948, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been at the forefront of economic and development thinking in the region, fully committed to supporting member States in achieving sustainable development. This report on the activities undertaken by ECLAC in 2022 highlights the Commission’s key achievements and contributions throughout the year and is hereby submitted for the consideration of member States in accordance with the accountability and transparency framework promoted by the United Nations.…

Draft programme of work of the ECLAC system 2025

The draft programme of work of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for 2025 is hereby submitted to the member States of the Commission for their consideration. It highlights the annual priorities that will be considered by the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and the United Nations General Assembly as part of the intergovernmental reviewing exercise. Under the framework of the United Nations, ECLAC is responsible for fostering the economic, social and environmentally sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean through international c…

Report of the Sixty-fourth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean