Women's rights under the law in the Americas

Women's rights and the law: Briefing notes

This series of briefing notes on different topics looks at the status of women under national law in the countries of the Americas in the context of the commitments they have acquired through the CEDAW and Belém do Pará Conventions:

International Models Project on Women's Rights (IMPOWR)

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IMPOWR is an innovative initiative to establish a global collaborative research database on women's rights under law that will support the worldwide implementation of the principles underlying CEDAW and the Belém do Pará Convention.

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The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have gradually adapted their national legislation to the international and inter-American legal framework on women’s rights, within which particular emphasis is placed on the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979) and the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women (Belém do Pará Convention, 1994).

According to the OECD, Latin America and the Caribbean is the developing region that has made the most progress in the formal recognition of women’s rights – from the adoption of international and inter-American commitments and the recognition of equality between women and men at the constitutional level, to the formulation of laws and public policies on women’s rights and gender equality. However, the OECD also highlights that, although discrimination by social institutions is low, this progress has not yet translated into adequate protection of women’s physical integrity, and that violence against women continues to be a or the major concern in many countries of the region.

However, for many women in the region, the legislation in place at the international and national levels and the constitutional guarantees of equality are not a lived reality. A number of obstacles persist to women’s full realization of their rights; from their ability to access education, employment with equal pay and benefits, and health and other social services, to their ability to negotiate sexual relations and reproductive autonomy, protect themselves from violence, including in their own homes, and make their voices heard in political and economic decision-making.

It is in this hemispheric context that the CIM works, with the main goal of supporting the Member States of the OAS in their efforts to comply with their respective international and inter-American commitments on women’s human rights and gender equity and equality, so that they are converted into effective public policy, contributing to the full and equal participation of women in the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural spheres.