Draft first regional report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development

Chapter III
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Table III.6
Latin America and the Caribbean: mechanisms for the advancement of women,
by hierarchical level, latest period available
(Percentages of countries)
Latin America (20 countries)
I Ministry or body whose head is of ministerial rank 50.0
II
Body attached to the office of the president or mechanism whose head is directly responsible to the office of the president
(offices attached to the office of the president, secretariats, national institutes, etc.)
III Bodies <strong>report</strong>ing to a ministry (deputy minister’s offices, departments, institutes, councils, etc.) 25.0
The Caribbean (19 countries)
I Ministry or body whose head is of ministerial rank 10.5
II Head of a mechanism not of ministerial rank but directly responsible to the prime minister 5.3
III Head of a department or other body responsible to a minister 84.2
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG),
“Indicators” [online] https://oig.cepal.org/en/indicators.
25.0
The national <strong>report</strong>s document the implementation of these institutional mechanisms for the construction of
gender-equal development policies at a high institutional level in response to women’s demands in periods prior
to the Montevideo Consensus, but there are also countries where ministries have been created more recently.
The Government of Chile has <strong>report</strong>ed on the 2015 creation of the Ministry for Women and Gender Equity,
while the Government of Jamaica has mentioned an upgrading of a department that formerly had divisional
status. Other countries have referred to progress in creating institutional structures in local government. 92
For example, Guatemala has <strong>report</strong>ed that municipalities are now required to have higher-ranking municipal
women’s offices in the local government structure and Honduras has stated that 96% of municipalities have
local gender mechanisms.
Also very important as a gauge of gender equality is to ascertain how many women are in charge of
sectoral portfolios other than mechanisms for the advancement of women. To assess changes in this area
during recent years, there is the indicator for the percentage of women in ministerial cabinets over the last three
presidential terms (CEPALSTAT). 93 Although the rank of the institutions referred to above differs substantially
between the Latin American and Caribbean countries, there are no very great sub<strong>regional</strong> differences in
the percentages of women in ministerial cabinets. The proportion of female ministers ranges from a low of
11.1% to a high of 57.1% in Latin America in the latest period, while in the Caribbean the range is from 7.7%
to 40.0%. It is important to note that at least one country in both subregions has approached parity (or even
slightly exceeded it) during the last three presidential terms, although there are also countries that had virtually
no female ministers in the two terms before the latest one. The Government of Chile has <strong>report</strong>ed in detail
on the creation of gender units in ministerial structures, for example in the ministries of education, health and
agriculture, and on intersectoral gender actions shared by the different ministries.
Nonetheless, the upward trend in women’s participation as ministers of State in each of the countries
over the periods has not continued. For example, the percentage of female ministers declined in all periods
in 5 of the 13 Caribbean countries with data available. Of the 20 countries in Latin America, 6 are in this
same situation, with a decline of up to 50% in female representation in ministries. Again, there are cases of
increases followed by declines (and vice versa) in women’s participation in ministries, and cases where this
increased in all the periods (mention may be made of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru, the Plurinational State
of Bolivia and Uruguay). These executive appointments depend by their nature more on the preferences of
92
This refers to priority measures 47 and 81, monitored by indicator E.3 (percentage of municipal and local governments with gender mechanisms for women’s
development), and systematized data are not yet available.
93
See CEPALSTAT [online database] http://estadisticas.cepal.org/cepalstat/portada.html?idioma=english. The indicator estimates are produced by ECLAC with data
validated by mechanisms for the advancement of women, using official government figures. If information is not submitted by mechanisms for the advancement
of women, the data are compiled directly from government and ministry websites.
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