WUNRN
International Museum of Women - IMOW
Website Link Includes Video.
FOCUSING ON LATIN AMERICA - WOMEN
Economists predict that the next
ten years will be the "Latin American Decade." But in this diverse
and quickly-changing region, how have Latin American women been affected by the
global economic crisis, and how are they faring in recovery? Join us for Focusing
on Latin America, a project of Economica: Women and the Global
Economy, as we answer these questions through the creativity, vision
and ideas of women artists, activists and thought leaders from Argentina, Costa Rica, and Mexico.
Performance artists,
photographers, and thought leaders respond to
EXPLORE MEXICO
>>
How have economic issues such as
sex tourism, domestic violence, and agricultural growth, impacted
EXPLORE COSTA
RICA >>
EXPLORE
ARGENTINA >>
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http://imow.org/economica/projects/story?key=5751
GROWTH FOR LATIN AMERICA, GAINS FOR WOMEN?
As the world struggles to recover from the global economic crisis, pundits, policy makers, and workers are all left wondering where the chips will fall. Many economists predict that future growth of the global economy will rely on emerging economies in developing countries; others have predicted that women, an often overlooked segment of the global labor force, will finally take their full place in the world economy.
If these experts are correct,
women in
From 2003 to 2008,
While Latin American women are
expected to be key to this growth, they also face some daunting obstacles,
including deeply-engrained social structures that oppress women, a dominant
informal economy, and a slow start on enforcing policies that encourage gender
equity. So how do women fit into the economic future of
The Big Picture:
Wealth Inequality
Although over a third of the
region's inhabitants are still poor, during the region's recent growth poverty
was reduced dramatically. Today, 37 million fewer Latin Americans are
considered impoverished compared to a decade ago. However, women in
One Step
Forward, Two Steps Back
Despite persistent inequities,
women have not been left behind. One hundred million women in
But while taking on more work has
improved women's lives, higher rates of employment don't necessarily mean a
better quality of life. More than half of all working Latin American women are
employed in the informal economy, a sector that isn't taxed or included in a
government's measure of GDP. Women working in the informal economy don't
receive benefits, salaries or the protection of safety regulations; they're
also particularly vulnerable to cuts in hours or job loss. In addition, the
informal sector often pays poorly-in 2006, prior to the crisis, 33% of workers
in the informal sector were poor, compared to 16% in the formal sector.
However, even those women who do work in the formal sector earn just 75 cents
for every dollar a man makes. This regional wage gap is notably higher than the
global average of 84 cents to every dollar earned by a man. And throughout
Women also perform the vast
majority of unpaid care work, often working almost three times as much as men
on "volunteer" house work. The economic crisis has pressured
governments to cut spending on social programs, including childcare, healthcare
and education, further increasing women's burdens at home. In fact, more than
half of Latin American women aged 20-24 say they're working so much at home
that they cannot seek paid work.
Unemployment and
Decline in Work
The economic crisis led to a
marked decline in women-led industries such as tourism and exports. Now, more
than 10 percent of Latin American women are unemployed (compared to 8.8 percent
at the start of the crisis).
Seventy-five percent of working women in
Less Money for
Home: Migration and Remittance
As work opportunities diminished at home, an estimated three million Latin
American women migrated to a
In 2009 Latin American countries
received about $58.8 billion in remittance-a fifteen percent drop compared to
2008. Less remittance make it more difficult for women to maintain their
household and feed their family. Some experts predict that remittance will
stabilize, and perhaps even increase, over the course of 2010.
Violence in
Times of Crisis
Throughout
Some experts say that violence
against Latin American women might be due in part to women's increased economic
autonomy and education . Maria Flórez-Pimental Estrada of the Agenda Económica
de las Mujeres UNIFEM program says these facts "constitute a powerful
defiance of masculine privileges which may explain, though never justify, the
violent masculine response to this power loss of men over women."
A Shift Towards
Women-Friendly Policies
In the years before the crisis
many Latin American governments began policies to reduce inequality, help the
impoverished and-ultimately-benefit women.
One example is government cash
transfer programs, a type of welfare unique to the region where financial
incentives are offered to low income households as long as certain conditions
are met, such as regular school attendance and health check-ups for children.
Cash transfer programs have assisted some 110 million Latin Americans. These
programs can help some women, but ultimately don't offer enough assistance for
women and families to overcome other barriers to social mobility, such as
quality education, stable employment and good childcare.
Some governments have also
launched innovative pro-poor, pro-women policies. For instance, leaders in
Women Take
Control
Besides being the beneficiaries
of women-friendly public policies, women in
Latin American women are also
taking advantage of educational opportunities. In many countries, women's
levels of education have achieved parity with men, and in some countries-such
as
In addition, women in Latin
America are being elected to public office at rates that surpass the
Brighter Days
Ahead
With
Thus, as the region anticipates
potential growth, stability, and power, the place of women in Latin American
society should remain a central question. If structural shifts in government
and society match the strides made by Latin American women as they work outside
the home, move from the informal to the formal sector, create innovative
solutions to work inequities, and take advantage of women-friendly programs and
public policies, the entire region stands to benefit and make enormous advances
in the coming decades.