2000
The creation of the Gender ICC in Latin America

The Gender Index of Fulfilled Commitments (IFC) is an instrument that allows us to measure the level of fulfillment of the commitments that the governments of Latin America have made for the achievement of gender equity. In this number, we present the results of this measurement for a group of Latin American countries, offering some results on the regional level which may allow us to evaluate the impact of this instrument when applied to other regions.

The idea of creating an instrument for observing the action of the governments in favor of equality and equity between men and women, arose from the necessity of women’s organizations to supervise the fulfillment of the national and international agreements signed by the governments, so as to provide transparency to the public and avoid that the actions proposed be ignored or implemented halfway.

The monitoring of the Women’s Action Platform, committed to at the Beijing Conference, was performed through a survey answered by citizens’ organizations. This questionnaire intended to reveal various aspects: the availability of information, the feminization of poverty, the existence of specific policies oriented towards women, the participation of women in different areas. It also revealed the existence or non-existence of institutional mechanisms in charge of following the Beijing Conference, and of citizens’ organizations which are dealing with this task. In the preparation of the current report, we gathered information from 13 countries, based on the data submitted by the citizens’ organizations which collaborated.

Access and availability of information

The availability and access to current and sufficient information comparing the realities of men and women is fundamental, not only to follow the Women’s Action Platform and to analyze the impact of different policies and programs, but also to be able to identify the areas and themes in which gender differences are manifested more clearly than in others.

As reflected in Table 1, the availability of information on large areas is relatively extended on a Latin American level, nevertheless, there are still important gaps in information which must be filled. Obviously, education is one of the areas with the greatest coverage; it is possible to discover the levels of women and men, in primary as well as secondary education. Except in the case of Argentina, the disposition of data appears satisfactory.

In relation to the insertion of men and women in the labor force, however, there are information deficits for some countries. Guatemala is the one with the greatest lack of data, there is none available and accessible on female employment and unemployment, on the insertion of women in the informal sector of the economy, or on salary discrimination. In Colombia, there is a lack of data on the economically active female population (EAP) by sectors and areas of activity, and on the informal sector. The data regarding the insertion of women in the informal sector is also unavailable in Chile. It must be underlined that the informal sector has been one of the areas which women have joined in important numbers in the last years in Latin America. There is no data in Venezuela about salary discrimination, and the organization responsible for Peru, as well as that of Colombia, do not know if such figures are available.

The economic weight and the contribution of non-remunerated domestic work to the GNP is a relevant figure, which helps to visualize the daily work of women and integrates it into the national accounts. Nevertheless, there is practically no such data, even though in various countries of the region (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela), there are initiatives which tend to begin such an evaluation.

In spite of the importance acquired by the feminization of poverty in the last decade, in the majority of countries for which there exists information, there is no data dealing with the magnitude of the phenomenon, except in Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru.

Finally, regarding access to health services, in 6 of the 13 countries considered there is available data about the access of women to these services. The lack of this type of data obviously reveals a very important deficiency when creating policy in this sector.

TABLE 1: Existence of available information discriminated by gender

Incidence of female poverty and plans
implemented for its eradication

In the majority of the countries considered, there is data for the percentage of households living in poverty which are led by women. Only in Brazil and Mexico is this data not available. While it is true that to perform the analysis it is necessary to include the total amount of female-headed households in the country, the data available demonstrates the incidence of poverty in these types of households, which have been focalized in many countries as the beneficiaries of programs. It is noteworthy, however, that of the 8 countries where there at least two figures with which to compare the evolution of female poverty, in 5 of them it seems to have diminished (Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru) in the period considered. This data is consistent with the drop in relative poverty in Latin America in the "post-lost decade" (even though poverty, in absolute terms, has increased). In Guatemala and Venezuela, on the other hand, female poverty seems to have increased. Obviously, the reliability of the indicators for the measurement of poverty may be questioned and discussed, as well as their ability to measure the multidimensionality of the phenomenon. But all of the data in Table 2 seems to indicate a certain progress in this sense.

Regarding the specific programs and plans in the fight against poverty, in the case of Brazil there are no specific plans, even though the plans being implemented affect women. The programs seem oriented basically along three general lines: health; credit, income and employment; and support for rural women. In the case of Argentina and Bolivia there are plans linked to health that, even though they do not imply a direct blow against the conditions of poverty, they do affect its consequences. In Chile and Mexico, the programs are oriented towards women workers, while Argentina and Ecuador seem to be focused mainly on women in "vulnerable" situations. In Venezuela, Colombia, and Guatemala, there are support programs for rural women. Finally, in Nicaragua, gender was included as one of the central aspects to consider in the Plan to Combat Poverty. The results of the plans, nevertheless, are still not clear, because their implementation is recent, because of insufficient data, or because the impacts are not of the magnitude required. In the case of Paraguay, the plans are not specifically sectoral; they are more often transversal mechanisms.

The coordination with women’s and citizens’ organizations for the implementation of the diverse plans is another aspect which appears to present difficulties: the citizens’ organizations which responded to the questionnaire answered, except in the case of Peru, that this coordination was not working in a satisfactory manner, and in 3 of the 13 cases considered, there is not any coordination at all.

TABLE 2: Incidence of female poverty and plans
implemented for its eradication

Latin American women in the labor force

Table 3 shows the situation of women in the Latin American labor force. Even though the rate of female participation still does not reach the level of the male participation rate (though in Brazil and Ecuador, for example, it already surpasses 45%), it tends to increase in almost all the countries considered, with the exceptions of Nicaragua and Peru (and even in these cases, there is only a very slight decrease).

Female unemployment appears to represent an important portion of unemployment, as demonstrated in the cases of Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru. In some countries, the percentage reaches two digits: Argentina and Venezuela demonstrate high indexes in this sense. Since 1995, for the countries in which there is available data, unemployment has increased in Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela, and has decreased in Chile, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

In relation to salary discrimination, it continues to be high in the majority of Latin American countries, especially Chile and Ecuador, even though in many countries there are legal and constitutional instruments destined to assure equity between men and women in terms of positions available (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela); it appears that discrimination tends to worsen.

The lack of specific initiatives regarding women, employment and income, is very notorious. With the exception of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru, the rest of the countries included in the table do not possess measures destined to improve the incorporation of women into the labor force. In two of these cases (Argentina and Mexico), the measures are being carried out with the support of international organisms (ILO, IDB). The situation of support initiatives in agriculture, credit and productive resources in general has improved relatively. In Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, there are efforts being made in this sense.

TABLE 3: The Latin American woman
in the labor force:situation and initiatives

Initiatives for the implementation
of an Equal Opportunity Plan

The idea and the initiative of the "Equal Opportunity Plan" seem to have set root in Latin America. With the exception of Peru, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Brazil, in the rest of the countries there are plans being implemented at the national level (Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala and Paraguay), state level (Mexico), and projects or initiatives in process (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil). In the majority of cases, these plans correspond to dates close to or after the WCSD and the WWC. Even though the impact is still limited in the countries where the Plan is already being implemented, it is important to keep in mind the evaluation received from Chile, where the Plan "has basically helped to institutionalize certain issues" and has achieved some "legal reforms."

TABLE 4: Initiatives for the implementation of an Equal Opportunity Plan

Political participation and initiatives tending
to reduce the inequities in representation

As shown in Table 5, the political participation of women in Latin America is still limited and restricted. In terms of positions within the Executive Branch (presumably, the ones with the greatest level of decision), the participation percentages, with the exception of Chile and Paraguay, do not surpass 10%. Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua and Peru all have at least one female Minister. Uruguay and Venezuela are the most deficient cases, where there are currently no women occupying ministerial positions. But the most worrying situation is that, except for Argentina, in the rest of the countries with two comparable figures for the period, this percentage– already small– decreased or remained the same.

The situation of women in the Parliament improves relatively. With the exception of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru, in the rest of the countries, the participation percentages have increased and the average participation in the highest parliamentary organ of the country reaches 12.3%. The participation of women in municipal positions also demonstrates improvement; there is more female representation, with the exceptions of Mexico (which experimented a decrease in the level of participation in municipalities) and Paraguay, and the countries for which there is no comparable information available (Nicaragua, Peru, Guatemala, Bolivia). This data is consistent with the idea that women "invade" the political system "from the base," but they encounter greater obstacles (a "glass ceiling" which in some cases is quite visible) as they get closer to the more powerful positions (such as those of the Executive Branch). Table 5 also "filters" information about political participation, through a hierarchy of available positions, showing the percentage of women who compete in the first five places. Even though the information is very hard to compare between countries, since the positions available are different, the data is interesting.

Finally, Table 5 indicates a study of the existence of measures tending to increase women’s political participation. In Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela there are measures of different types. Those "falling behind" in this sense are Chile, Guatemala, Uruguay and Nicaragua.

TABLE 5: Political participation and initiatives tending
to reduce the inequities in representation

Policies of education, health 
and violence against women

Table 6 shows some concrete political initiatives and measures in the areas of health, education and the struggle against violence towards women. As can be observed, from the point of view of gender-based education policy, the results vary. Of the 13 countries, 7 possess initiatives tending to include gender in educational policy: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Paraguay and Peru. But the group of countries where measures of this type have not been implemented is important: Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Venezuela are among the most "delayed" countries in this sense. Regarding the elaboration of plans to combat gender discrimination in education, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Guatemala and Bolivia have plans. Argentina had them, but only between 1992 and 1995, and Mexico has them, but they are insufficient, according to the evaluation conducted. In the cases of Nicaragua, Chile and Ecuador, the inexistence of measures in both dimensions considered for gender and education, it is apparent that there has been a serious nonfulfillment. Regarding the evaluation of the plans, generally those surveyed answered that the impact of the plans is insufficient, or difficult to evaluate for the moment.

In the area of health, there has been progress in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, in the first two in terms of access to health services. But in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Mexico and Ecuador, there appear to be no initiatives in this sense.

The adoption of legislative measures and institutional instances for the combat of violence against women seems to have become widespread, and can be considered an "advance" in terms of the commitments agreed upon. Even though the resources assigned are limited, insufficient, or difficult to find, all the countries have institutional measures of this kind.

TABLE 6: Policies in Education, Health and Violence against Women

Follow-up and Monitoring the Beijing Commitments

Finally, in terms of the follow-up and monitoring of the commitments made at the WWC in Beijing, there are more or less institutionalized programs at the governmental level, with the exception of Chile, Guatemala, Uruguay and Peru. As can be seen in Table 7, in some cases these instances are found at the ministerial level; in others, in institutes of different magnitude; and in the cases of Colombia and Brazil, there are initiatives and follow-up processes with no specific foundation.

In many cases there are tables of coordination between citizens’ organizations and governmental organisms, with the exception of Chile and Guatemala. The initiatives range from Tripartite Coordination Tables, as in Peru and Paraguay, to joint initiatives between NGOs and the State, without too much specific institutionality, as in the cases of Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico or Nicaragua. The progress made effective in this respect, ranges from an electoral campaign (Brazil), the realization of propaganda actions (Bolivia) or the creation of a network (Mexico). In less than half of the surveyed countries, there are progress reports which document the activities and evaluate the process.

The organisms dealing with the gender topic in the countries, are divided between those of national level, inserted ministerially (Argentina, Bolivia), or Commissions and Councils of different type and reach (Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela), and those on the departmental, provincial, or state level (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay). Even though, in general, the evaluation is critical in relation to the performance and functioning of these organisms (few resources, scarce institutionalization and legal jurisdiction), their mere existence demonstrates a positive path in that direction.

TABLE 7: Follow-up and Monitoring of the Beijing Commitments

General balance of progress and delays

The revision of what has or has not been done in the different countries in the region regarding the implementation of the WAP and the changes which the integration and participation of women have undergone in different areas, reveals a prism of different realities. While the progress in various aspects has been important, the delays in other areas must also be considered.

Today, the majority of countries has more information classified by gender, almost all of them have implemented institutional mechanisms of diverse status which are preoccupied with the themes; in many areas (labor, health, education, poverty, political participation) specific plans and programs with specific policies have been elaborated.

Nevertheless, the general results are still poor. In most cases, the organizations answering the questionnaire have concluded that the impact of the plans and programs implemented is not sufficient; they have manifested that the different government organisms in charge of the gender topic do not possess the financial and/or human resources indispensable for an efficient performance and a significant impact; that many laws are approved but not applied as they should be; that the coordination with NGOs is weak. All this demonstrates that the path ahead is a long one, in spite of the fact that 6 out of the 13 countries have an Equal Opportunity Plan, and that 7 out of the 13 countries have approved positive measures tending to increase the participation of women in the political realm.

When we observe some figures linked to female unemployment, to their percentage within the poor, to the important gap which exists between female and male salaries, and to their very scarce political participation, it becomes apparent that the delays are still notorious and that more than 50% of the Latin American population begins the new millennium facing, day after day, situations of discrimination which should have been left in prehistory.

As the NGOs attending the VIII CEPAL Conference recently stated, "the XXI Century shall be the century of women only if it also the century of democracy, politically, economically, and socially, but also culturally, privately and intimately. With democratic governments that fulfill their political and legal commitments, and with strong citizenships with the ability to observe the public sphere and create proposals, we shall be able to assume the challenges of the new millennium."