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The economic crisis – an opportunity to create new gender policies |
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The depth and the duration of the crisis are still uncertain. Nevertheless, it could be seen as an opportunity for a new debate about the subordinate relationships between women and men that underlie the present global economy. The Mexican Government, through its National Institute for Women (Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres - INMUJERES) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores - SRE), with the support of several UN agencies, will hold an event to analyse the crisis from a gender perspective on 23-24 July 2009 in Mexico City.
 The impact of the economic crisis on inequality and poverty has been the subject of multiple economic and political analyses. However, the gender perspective has received little attention in these analyses, especially from decision-makers. In order to be effective, initiatives to respond to the prevailing crisis should take into consideration the unequal gender relations that form the basis of the global economy.
The revision of the relationship between the State, the market and society – an exercise of reflection and debate that the present crisis should generate - must take into consideration the most significant consequences that the economic and financial crisis, as well as the resulting measures, could have on the exercise of women’s rights and on their quality of life. The crisis will have a significant repercussion on the work carried out in all labour market sectors, but particularly on unremunerated work – such as care-giving – that is mainly provided by women.
The Expert Group Meeting in Mexico City, entitled “Analysis of the Economic and Financial Crisis from a Gender Perspective: Understanding its impact on poverty and women’s work,” aims to promote a dialogue among governmental authorities and feminist economists, in order to identify short and long term policies that will allow for the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals and the Beijing Platform for Action, within the context of the economic crisis. Governmental representatives, economists and international specialists on public policies oriented towards gender equality, together with civil society organizations, will analyze the crisis from a gender perspective to identify the areas of greatest impact in terms of poverty and women’s work.
In addition, participants will examine public policies that attempt to respond to the crisis and reflect on how they may impact on the situation of women, and particularly on the burden of unremunerated work. Finally, policies and other measures will be proposed to respond to women’s needs in terms of equal labour conditions and their access to work, as well as shared responsibilities between men and women.
The seminar is a joint collaboration between the Division for Gender Affairs of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UN-INSTRAW, UNIFEM, as well as INMUJERES and SRE, with the co-sponsorship of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) and the Interagency Gender Group (GIG) of Mexico.
The conclusions of this Expert Group Meeting will serve as input to the document to be presented at the XI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in Brasilia in July of next year.
See results and presentations from the event here
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