WUNRN
2007-12-12
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Gender
Inequality Remains Serious in Latin America & Caribbean |
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SANTIAGO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Although women account for 51 percent of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean, they take only 33 percent of the region's income, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said in a Tuesday report. "Inequality is crisscross and affects all aspects of our society negatively," said Jose Luis Machinea, ECLAC's secretary general, at the report's launch in the Chilean capital, Santiago. The report -- A Look at Gender Equality and Women's Autonomy in Latin America and the Caribbean -- showed that there has been some progress in women's education and political representation, but reaching these goals "needs ambitious strategies which match the magnitude of the pending challenges in this matter," Machinea added. Gender equality and female autonomy are among the UN's key millennium development goals which were adopted in 2000 by the UN's member countries. The report calls for countries to make gender equality part of policy, to encourage political parties to incorporate women's issues and to consider gender relations in their policymaking, actions and statutes. Machinea said Latin America's women enjoyed 20 percent more political representation than their Asian sisters, and that Latin American women's education was also progressing faster. The document also calls for an end to women being exclusively responsible for reproduction and child-care, for violence against women to be brought to an end, and for nations to adopt policies that allow women equality in making decisions. It also calls for promoting decent work for women. "Gender inequality and poverty eradication are closely linked," the report said, adding that a rising proportion of families who live below the poverty line have women as the head of the family. |
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