The 37th Assembly of Delegates of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the OAS ended in Lima with a call to countries in the region to promote equality and economic empowerment of women.
Women Ministers from member states of the Organization of American States (OAS), gathered in the Peruvian capital for two days, signed the Declaration of Lima, which highlights their commitment to boost women’s participation and leadership in political decisions to address economic concerns.
The document included calls to improve women's participation in the management of public and private companies, a commitment that must be linked to the strengthening of women entrepreneurship as a way to consolidate productive diversification of countries, Women and Vulnerable Populations Minister Marcela Huaita explained.
States pledge to guarantee equality and autonomy in the exercise of women’s economic rights, improve their working conditions, determine and recognize the role of unpaid work in the economy, and adopt measures so that care can be assumed as a social co-responsibility, understood as the shared participation of the State and the private sector, as well as men and women.
Participating ministers and delegates agreed to identify specific sectors and levels where pay equity gaps exist, and formulate and implement laws, policies and programs, as appropriate, in order to contribute to closing these gaps.
They also highlighted the economic and social value of unpaid work at home, mainly care work, as a fundamental tool for the design and implementation of adequate public policies on co-responsibility and care, taking into account ethnic, economic and social differences.
Huaita, the newly appointed chair for CIM in 2016-2019, finds it essential to consider the forms of discrimination based on women’s several identities: Afro-descendant, indigenous, migrant, disabled, lesbian and trans women, whose reality determines the systematic social inequality they experience.
(END) NDP/ASH/RMB/MVB
Published: 5/26/2016