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Support for the Creation of an Observatory on Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean

12 June 2008

Press release
José Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Carmen Moreno, Director at UN-INSTRAW signed an agreement to support the establishment of an Observatory on Gender Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the 10th Regional Conference on Women in Quito, Ecuador (2007) Member States recognized that “equality is one of the driving forces of democracy and that its aim is to achieve equality in the exercise of power, in decision-making, in mechanisms of social and political participation and representation…a goal for the eradication of women’s structural exclusion.” They requested the creation of an observatory on equality that will strengthen national gender machineries.

The Observatory will coordinate an annual evaluation of gender inequality, covering such themes as remunerated and non-remunerated work, the use of time, poverty, access to decision-making and political representation and gender-based violence.

UN-INSTRAW’s participation in this initiative is part of the implementation of the UN-INSTRAW/AECID project “Fortalecimiento de la Gobernabilidad con enfoque de genero y la participación política de las mujeres en al ámbito local,” which looks to strengthen the participation and political leadership of women in the planning and management of local governments in Latin America.

The Technical Secretary will be responsible of ECLAC through its Women and Development Division.

Among the participants, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and various donor agencies (Agencia Española de Cooperacion International para el Desarrollo (AECID), Secretaria General de Iberoamericana (SEGIB) and the Government of France).

The Observatory will offer member countries a variety of strategic tools and methodologies to track and monitor the goals established in the Quito Consensus.

The agreement was signed within the context of the 32nd Session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (9 to 13 June 2008).

Read the Press Release on the 32^nd Session of ELCAC

Read the Consensus of Quito