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Ministers of Labor and Women’s Affairs Convened by OAS Make Progress on Gender Equality and Decent Work

In the framework of the 17th Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor held this week in San Salvador, the first inter-ministerial high-level dialogue among the highest government authorities on labor and women’s affairs from the Member States of the OAS was held.

It was presided by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza; the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of El Salvador, Humberto Centeno; the President of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), Roció García Gaytán; and the Minister of Labor of Costa Rica, Sandra Pisk. The dialogue issued policy and program recommendations to make progress on the rights of women and gender equality in the context of decent work.

According to the definition of the International Labor Organization, decent work includes four objectives: to create work; guarantee the rights of workers; extend social protection; and promote social dialogue. During the dialogue in San Salvador was launched the CIM study “Advancing gender equality in the context of decent work,” which indicates that gender equality is a fundamental component of each one of these objectives.

Participation by women in the work force of Latin America and the Caribbean has grown from 36 percent in 1980 to 52 percent in 2009, according to World Bank figures, which has allowed women to increase their economic independence. Nevertheless, women—particularly poor women—still enter the labor market under conditions of inequality and vulnerability marked by underemployment, instability, lack of social security coverage and low wages.

Women are paid between 90 percent and 60 percent of the average income earned by men. At the same time, the percentage of women heads of households has grown from 22 percent in 1990 to 31 percent in 2008, according to the United Nations. Women spend more time than men on nonpaid labor, which often makes their entry into the labor market impossible. This is of particular significance to poor women who lack access to education or reproductive health.

The results of this high-level dialogue secured the presence of gender equality and women’s rights on the agenda of Inter-American Conferences of Ministers of Labor, and they will contribute to ensure that women can participate in a full and equal way in the world of labor in the Americas.

As a result of this successful experience of exchange and dialogue, the Ministers of Labor decided to continue their collaboration with the Ministers of Women’s Affairs to ensure these political commitments become realities for women in the Americas.

For more information on the high-level dialogue, visit: http://www.oas.org/en/cim/labour.asp.

To download the full text of the CIM study, “Advancing gender equality in the context of decent work,” visit: http://www.oas.org/es/cim/docs/AvanceGeneroTrabajoDecente-SP[Final-Web].pdf.

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

Reference: E-937/11