Gender is not a women's issue, it is a power relation

Despite the advances achieved in past years, the gap in participation and salary equality in the labor market continues to affect women worldwide. In Latin America, the scenario is less encouraging when taking into consideration the fact that it is the continent with the most inequalities, where women do not achieve more than 55 percent labor participation. 

This problem was discussed during the conversation "Gender equity and the development of Latin America", which included the participation of Aude Maiao-Coliche, Ambassador of the European Union in Venezuela; Lara Blanco, Associate Director of UN Women; Enrique García, CAF's Executive President; and José Carrera, CAF's Vice-president of Social Development 

Enrique Garcia stated, "CAF is committed to the promotion of gender equity in the region. This commitment is reflected through the impact of projects that we finance, the technical cooperations that we promote, the generation of knowledge and these types of spaces to debate about the importance of public policies that promote a greater participation of women in the labor market, and in the development of the region". 

Aude Maiao-Coliche, Ambassador of the European Union in Venezuela, highlighted the role of women to promote the recovery of the economy in the old continent. "Thanks to the implementation of laws that compel companies to have women in their executive boards, their participation in executive positions increased. Currently, with initiatives such as those promoted by the International Monetary Fund to incorporate more women to the European labor market to reactivate production, we expect to reduce the gap, which is still significant compared with men". 

During her presentation, Lara Blanco, Associate Director of UN Women, emphasized the need to implement public policies that emerge from the needs of women. "Child care systems that allow women to continue working are a great step, but they must have schedules that adjust to their jobs. Another problem that stands out, especially in Latin America, is labor informality and non-remunerated work". 

Finally, José Carrera, CAF's Vice-president of Social Development, stated, "Gender is not a only a women's issue; gender is a social construction that denotes a structure and power relation. At a world level and in Latin America, men hold power, so if we want to advance in the improvement of equity conditions and gender equality, we have to have an active participation of all members in society, men and women. The strongest effort falls mainly on men as they are in power positions and have the opportunity to open the possibilities and spaces for change".

One of the main conclusions that emerged from this event, held at CAF's Headquarters, was that the equal development of women must be a priority for all countries, and the achievement of this objective will require the joint efforts of the civil society, governments, and multilateral organizations.