Fernández de la Vega the gave a speech in which she emphasized the priority given by the Spanish Government to gender equality as a basis for equitable and sustainable development, quoting as evidence the significant increase in support provided to organizations such as UN-INSTRAW. She also highlighted the crucial role that women play as agents of social change and the need to bring together more voices around gender equality as a global commitment.
The First Vice-President then led a discussion with representatives of the Dominican Government, Dominican civil society and the UN Country Team. Participants further analyzed key issues related to gender equality in the Dominican Republic - the political participation of women, public security and violence against women, the situation of rural women, micro-credit and the migration of women.
Recalling that women are still the minority in political representation and decision-making at both the national and local levels, participants highlighted the need to establish strategies and mechanisms to strengthen the candidacy and re-election of women in government and their ability to advance a gender equality agenda, as well as the importance of policy dialogue between State institutions and civil society.
Participants repeatedly mentioned the problem of violence against women and its economic and social impact in the country, as well as the urgent need for a more adequate response. A call was also issued to make the different forms of violence against women more visible.
Finally, participants emphasized the crucial contribution of migrant women to the economic and social development of their households and communities, particularly through remittances, as well as the need to intervene in order to protect the rights of migrant women.
In her response to the questions and concerns raised during the discussion, Fernández de la Vega underlined the importance of mainstreaming equality plans in both the public and entrepreneurial sectors. She also highlighted the need to generate confidence and encourage micro-creditors to include traditionally-marginalized groups, such as women. Finally, Fernández de la Vega insisted on the documentation and analysis of successful initiatives that have placed rural women in position of political power.
Among the participants in the meeting were Gladys Gutiérrez (Presidential Advisor for the Implementation of Agreements on Gender Equality), Flavia García (Secretary of State for Women’s Affairs), América Bastidas (Assistant Secretary for International Cooperation), Tadeusz Palac (Resident Coordinator a.i., UN Country Team) and Magaly Pineda (Director, Centro de Investigación para la Acción Femenina/CIPAF).
Also present were Trinidad Jiménez (Secretary of State of Spain for Latin America), Soraya Rodríguez (Secretary of State for Spanish International Cooperation), Consuelo Femenía (Director-General for Latin American Cooperation of AECID) Selma Estrada (Protempore President of the Council of Central American Ministers for Women’s Affairs (COMMCA)), Ximena Abarca Protempore President of the Andean Network and Executive Director of the National Women’s Council of Ecuador (CONAMU).
During her official trip, Fernández de la Vega also visited Mexico and will visit Haiti and El Salvador. Amongst the objectives of this Latin American tour are the strengthening of political, cultural, economic and cooperative relations.
Read the statement of Carolina Taborga, Officer-in-Charge of UN-INSTRAW
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Press contact:
Valeria Vilardo, Communications Associate - UN-INSTRAW
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