SANTIAGO, Chile – Women Affairs ministers and other officials from the Caribbean have joined their counterparts in Latin America in commuting committed themselves to “promoting intersectoral public policies that include affirmative action to foster women’s and girls’ participation, continuation and completion of education in the spheres of science, technology, engineering and mathematics”.
They made the commitment during the 64th meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, where they also pledged to give females full access to the emerging digital economy and its potential opportunities.
The meeting held in a hybrid format, was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in coordination with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).
Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines were among the 15 countries that make up the Presiding Officers along with government officials from another 18 member states and associate members of ECLAC and representatives of the United Nations system, intergovernmental organizations and civil society.
The organizers said that the two-day meeting was attended by more than 500 people.
“In terms of the decisions made, the ministers and senior authorities from national machineries for women’s advancement in Latin America and the Caribbean reaffirmed their commitment to accelerating the effective implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda, including the Buenos Aires Commitment,” which was adopted in 2022 at the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ana Güezmes, Director of ECLAC’s Division for Gender Affairs, said during the closing session.
“As a region, we have a clear course for moving towards the care society which, among other benefits, would free up women’s time and relieve them of unpaid work so they can fully participate in the work environment, can get training and can access education and digital technologies on equal footing.
“As demonstrated over these two days of exchanges, the region has a clear and robust agenda of priorities. There are innovative proposals for addressing the multiple crises that undermine equality. There are bold solutions for closing gender gaps,” she underscored.
As a result, Güezmes said the agreements approved and the documents that were shared during the meeting “nourish the Regional Gender Agenda, which also offers guidelines on how to address structural inequalities and make progress on the access, use, ownership and technological innovation of women and girls in all their diversity.
“They allow for recovering the talent lost in the paradoxical fact that while women have higher educational completion rates than men, they are relegated in labor participation and even more so in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as in innovation and in the production of scientific knowledge,” she said.
UN Women’s Deputy Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean,
Cecilia Alemany made reference to the “importance of enhancing regional and international cooperation in all its forms, responding to the concept promoted by Chile of a ‘tous azimuts’ cooperation and coined as ‘circular cooperation’ for an inclusive digital transition linked to the social transition and the strengthening of women’s affairs ministries”
In the Declaration, the ministers and high-level authorities agreed to “encourage subregional, regional and multilateral cooperation programs on technological transformation and the digital ecosystem through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation modalities, as well as between national machineries for the advancement of women, that promote gender equality and the autonomy of women in all their diversity.”
In the Declaration, the delegates agreed to “encourage labor participation of women in all their diversity in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, eliminating occupational segregation and all forms of discrimination and gender-based violence ensuring decent work and wage equality, in particular in emerging sectors, including the digital economy, that are key to structural change with equality and the decarbonization of economies.”
Furthermore, they committed their countries to “supporting the digital entrepreneurship of women, including in e-commerce, including for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to develop local solutions and relevant content and promote innovation and decent job creation.”
They also resolved to have the Declaration disseminated among the Foreign Affairs Ministries of the governments of the region as Latin America and the Caribbean’s contribution to the negotiation of the conclusions that will be adopted at the 67th session of the CSW (March 6-17, 2023).
