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…

Action for equality, development and peace in Latin America and the Caribbean

The present document, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), is based on 25 reports prepared by countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, which in turn are based on comprehensive national 30-year reviews of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+30), adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women, in synergy with the implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda deriving from the commitments made at the meetings of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The document incorporates …

Time for care in Latin America and the Caribbean: towards social and gender co-responsibility

This bulletin, prepared jointly by ECLAC and ILO, presents an analysis of the status of maternity, paternity and parental leave in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also outlines the challenge of advancing measures such as parental leave, long-term care leave and urgent leave, as well as the shortening of the working day and more flexible arrangements in terms of both hours and places of work. These regulatory tools should be made available to both men and women, since they are essential for the exercise of co-responsibility, the guarantee of the right to care and the achievement of gender e…

Climate change financing in the Caribbean: an analysis from a gender perspective

Addressing gender inequality in climate finance is crucial for reducing women’s vulnerability to climate hazards, especially in the Caribbean where the impacts of climate change are threatening economies and livelihoods. Financial inclusion for women is necessary for sustainable development and climate resilience. This report analyzes gender-based climate financing in the region, examining the global and regional climate finance landscape, and highlighting key issues related to gender equality and women’s autonomy. The report includes: an analysis of challenges and opportunities for gender equ…

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 12

Urgent action to prevent and eliminate femicides

Gender-based violence against women and girls and its most extreme manifestation —femicides, feminicides or gender-related killings of women and girls— are a dramatic illustration of the persistent structural challenges of gender inequality that affect women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. Bulletin No. 3 on feminicidal violence presents the official statistics submitted by the region’s countries to the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean on cases of femicides, feminicides and gender-related killings of women reported in 2023. This bulletin is part of t…

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 11

Report on the activities of the Commission, 2023

In 2023, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary. Since its establishment in 1948, ECLAC has been a leader in generating applied knowledge and research from the perspective of the region. The Commission’s commitment has remained strong throughout these past decades, contributing to the design and implementation of public policies taking into consideration the needs and demands of member States. This report on the activities undertaken by ECLAC in 2023 highlights the Commission’s key achievements and contributions and is hereb…

The Hummingbird Vol. 11 No. 10

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