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OAS Secretary General Participates in Forum on Advances in Women´s Rights in the Americas

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, participated today in the forum “Progress of Women in the Americas: A critical overview of Beijing +20 and perspectives for the post-2015 development agenda,” together with the Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama, Isabel Saint Malo, and the Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women, Luiza Carvalho.

In the inauguration of the event, co-organized by the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OAS, the Department of Social Inclusion of the OAS, and UN Women, Secretary General Insulza highlighted the progress made in the legal and political frameworks regarding women’s´ rights in the Americas and the increase in their participation in labor markets. He nevertheless recognized that “female participation in the labor market has maintained its principal characteristics: women with the highest level of education, the fewest family responsibilities and more resources with which to pay for care services have the most elevated rates of participation.”

One of the fundamental factors behind gender inequality in the labor markets, said the leader of the hemispheric institution, is the concentration of women in the informal economy. This tendency, he said, is due to the fact that “these jobs allow greater flexibility in balancing work with domestic responsibilities. But that greater flexibility brings with it less stability at work, lower income, fewer or no benefits, and greater likelihood of harassment or exploitation,” said Secretary General Insulza.

In addition, said the OAS leader, “the sexual division of work, as a structural reality, is one of the most important economic inequalities and injustices that affect women in the family, at work, in politics and in the community.” Therefore, he added, “the exchange of best practices that will take place in this event on public policies regarding care for children and senior citizens is incredibly important.” In his speech, Secretary General Insulza also praised the work of Executive Secretary Carmen Moreno at the head of the CIM.

For her part, the Vice President and Foreign Minister of Panama, Isabel Saint Malo, explained that once the theme of the Summit of the Americas was defined as “Prosperity with Equality: the Challenge of Cooperation in the Americas,” “the need to incorporate women´s equality into its content and analysis was implicit.”

“The progress made by women and girls in our Hemisphere is undeniable,” said Vice President Saint Malo. “But so is the resistance of gaps and lags that keep half of the population facing serious obstacles to contributing to the prosperity of our societies and making them more fair and efficient in the defense of human rights.”

“In our region, the few polls on the use of time show the long hours that women in our cities and countryside dedicate to caring for young people and seniors. Making this fundamental work for the reproduction of our societies visible is the first step to the creation of tools to change our policies and also the way in which we measure the well-being of our societies,” said the Panamanian Foreign Minister.

The Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women, Luiza Carvalho, said “this issue is not just another challenge in the region, and above all it is not an issue that only affects women. Overcoming these gaps in the implementation of the commitments made to women is a priority for the society of the Americas as a whole.”

“The progress and regression in terms of gender equality are determinative in reaching the goals of greater prosperity and equality in the region,” continued Carvalho, “and therefore affect and influence everyone of the challenges that this Summit is going to analyze.”

Director Carvalho said that the objective of convening the forum is to generate “concrete proposals to accelerate the rhythm of change for women in the Americas in the context of the post 2015 development agenda, and in that effort we depend on the support of governments committed to gender equality to promote them among all the member states taking part in this historic event.”

The forum “Progress of Women in the Americas: A critical overview of Beijing +20 and perspectives for the post-2015 development agenda” was organized by the Inter-American Commission of Women of the OAS and UN Women, and brought together representatives of the states of the Hemisphere to dialogue and exchange best practices on the issue in the context of the Seventh Summit of the Americas, which takes place on April 10 and 11 in Panama City, Panama.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video news of the event will be available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-124/15