Towards substantive gender equality and the care society: acting with urgency to ensure women’s and girls’ right to a life free from violence

The member States and associate members of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), meeting at the sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Mexico City from 12 to 15 August 2025, adopted the Tlatelolco Commitment (ECLAC, 2025b), which established a decade of action, 2025–2035, in Latin America and the Caribbean to accelerate achievement of substantive gender equality and the care society. Under this regional agreement, which is part of the Regional Gender Agenda of compacts adopted by ECLAC member States since …

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2024

ECLAC is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. Established in February 1948 and headquartered in Santiago, the Commission’s main mandate is to contribute to the sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean. In June  1951, the Commission established the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico City, which serves the needs of the Central American countries, as well as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Mexico, and in December 1966, the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean was founded in Port of Spain, to serve the Caribbean subregion. In addit…

Provisional agenda. Sixty-seventh meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2024

ECLAC is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. Established in February 1948 and headquartered in Santiago, the Commission’s main mandate is to contribute to the sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean. In June  1951, the Commission established the ECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico City, which serves the needs of the Central American countries, as well as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Mexico, and in December 1966, the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean was founded in Port of Spain, to serve the Caribbean subregion. In addit…

Enhancing data for development: policy imperatives for tracking the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean. Policy Brief

For small island developing States (SIDS), sustainable development is a delicate balance of pursuing economic growth, social development and environmental stewardship in the context of economic volatility, social challenges, climate change threats and global uncertainties while striving to build resilience. Recognized as a special case for development since the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, SIDS remain highly vulnerable to external shocks due to their small economies, limited connectivity and reliance on external markets. Over the years, global frameworks such …

Strengthening the artificial intelligence readiness of the Caribbean. Policy Brief

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, when applied well, could help in addressing key global challenges and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, these potential benefits will not materialize automatically. The use of AI also carries significant risks, such as disruption to job markets and economies, loss of cultural diversity, new AI-enabled digital weapons that increase misinformation and surveillance, and threats to human rights and democracy. While AI systems could support the achievement of many of the SDGs , they could also impede the achievement of others and increa…

The Care Society: Governance, Political Economy and Social Dialogue for a Transformation with Gender Equality

Building the care society is a vital transformation for substantive equality, sustainable development and peace. This paradigm prioritizes the sustainability of life and of the planet, and recognizes care as a need, a right, a public good and as crucial work to boost the economy. It also establishes a synergistic interdependence among people, the environment, and economic and social development. Governments now have a prime opportunity to drive this transformation and address a growing care crisis —exacerbated by population ageing and climate change effects— that far surpasses existing capaci…

The right to care in Latin America and the Caribbean: progress on the regulatory front

The human right to care is essential for the sustainability of life and the planet and is one of the human rights recognized by international covenants and treaties as applying to everyone. As the Buenos Aires Commitment (2022) states, the right to care is based on the principles of equality, universality and social and gender co-responsibility. This right, whose foundations also include non-discrimination, progressiveness and interdependence, recognizes the value of care work and secures the rights of those requiring and providing care, as well as the right to exercise self-care. This means m…

The Hummingbird Vol. 12 No. 7

Guidelines and action plan for mainstreaming the gender perspective in international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean

This document, Guidelines and action plan for mainstreaming the gender perspective in international development cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, is intended as a guide and a conceptual and methodological tool for orienting and promoting gender mainstreaming in the different phases, processes and modalities of international development cooperation (see diagram 1) and thus, it is hoped, contributing to efforts to overcome the development challenges faced by the region and strengthening regional efforts to achieve gender equality. This document was prepared between 2024 and 2…

Towards mainstreaming the gender perspective in statistical production in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Latin American and Caribbean countries have made progress towards mainstreaming the gender perspective in official statistical production, in line with the agreements adopted in the Regional Gender Agenda. At the thirteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in 2016, the governments of the region agreed to “transforming data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into political decisions” in pillar 9 of the Montevideo Strategy for Implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda within the Sustainable Development Framework …

Work-life balance in the United States: women in the workforce and the policy challenges of a growing care economy

This paper explores the multifaceted challenges of achieving work-life balance in the United States as the country navigates the policy challenges of a growing care economy, particularly focusing on the persistent gender disparities, economic policies, and societal expectations that shape this issue. Women's participation in the labour force has been a major driver of economic growth, yet the absence of supportive policies like paid parental leave and affordable childcare hinders their full engagement and limits national economic potential. The United Sates continues to lag other develope…

Annotated provisional agenda. Sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Hummingbird Vol. 12 No. 6

Provisional agenda. Sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

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

The Hummingbird Vol. 12 No. 5

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy presents the outcomes of the project “Success criteria for a feminist development cooperation policy specific to Latin America and the Caribbean” developed under the Strategic Alliance between the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and carried out by the ECLAC Division for Gender  Affairs and the  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Int…

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean: gender indicators up to 2024

Latin America and the Caribbean has made considerable efforts to achieve gender equality. Now the region must consolidate advances and fulfil commitments by accelerating progress towards substantive equality and the full exercise of rights for all women and girls. This document analyses the gender indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, in synchrony with the Regional Gender Agenda of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17. Achieving more productive, inclusive and sustainable de…

Effects of countercyclical policies on women’s and men’s incomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a gender analysis of personal taxes and transfers in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia

At the fourteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, just weeks before the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the region’s governments undertook to “implement gender-sensitive countercyclical policies, in order to mitigate the impact of economic crises”. Against this backdrop, this document analyses the impact that taxes and transfers targeted to households and their members had on the disposable income of women and men between 2019 and 2020 in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia —countries for which harmonize…