Good morning!
As President of a Latin American nation that has conducted systematic efforts to incorporate
women’s specific needs into the development agenda of the state, it is immensely gratifying
as well as a great honor to promote international actions for the economic empowerment of
women, especially along with the members of this High Level Panel at the United Nations.
Promoting the full integration of women into the economy is a source of productivity and
human talent that has been wasted for a long time despite its ability to stimulate international
growth.
Economically empowering women involves removing cultural, social and labor barriers that
prevent them from entering the productive world and from fully exercising their rights. It
implies recognizing and valuing fairly all their paid and unpaid work within a framework of
gender equality, respect and peace. It also involves directly influencing other areas
–physical, sexual and political- because an economically empowered woman has
fundamental tools to have more effective control and greater autonomy over her body and
the surrounding environment.
But for this to happen it is essential to eradicate some of the most dramatic expressions of
violence against women, which limit not only their economic rights, but their human rights in
general. I am referring to the physical, sexual, psychological and patrimonial manifestations,
including, among others, domestic violence, symbolic violence, several types of harassment
-in the streets, at work, on the political arena-, as well as some of the most invasive types
perpetrated against girls and adolescent females, as forced marriages to older men, forced
pregnancy and early motherhood.
A society that has gender equality and the empowerment of women at the core of its
development agenda not only grows economically but also becomes more human.
In the last three decades there have been noteworthy advances in both fronts, as recorded
by UN WOMEN in the Report on the Progress of Women 2015-2016 and other international
and regional agencies. More countries today have a legal framework that guarantees and
protects the rights of women; more females participate in political and economic
decision-making; more girls, adolescents and grown women are enrolled in the educational
system than ever before; women’s participation in the labor force has increased and in some
regions that has a significant impact on the reduction of poverty and income inequality; there
is more awareness about gender discrimination at the workplace and more regulations on
the topic have been enacted; and today we have segregated information by gender in more
countries around the world, providing better information to guide our policies.
Inspired by the analyses and diagnostics of the Beijing +20 Action Platform and the
Sustainable Development Objectives laid out in the 2030 Agenda, important international
consensus has emerged around the need of incorporating a gender perspective to growth
and development goals.
Gradually, we begun to understand that advancing these topics is not a responsibility solely
of women or of specific national or international sectors, but also the result of an effort based
on strategic alliances between international organizations, national and local governments,
civil society and business sectors, working together to channel policies, efforts and
resources towards the advancement of gender equality and women economic
empowerment.
Recognizing the big and small steps we have given is a good starting point for this panel
because it shows that the current situation can be modified. On the other hand, it is equally
important to recognize that there is still a lot to learn and a lot to do. There are no simple
recipes, but a number of collective good practices to emulate and/or adapt to build more
democratic and egalitarian societies.
The gender gaps reported by UN WOMEN, ECLAC, the World Economic Forum, OECD and
other regional organizations makes us realize that as of today, March 15, 2016, no country
in the world, developed or developing, has attained gender equality or the full
economic empowerment of women ... NONE! Also, no country has achieved an
integral development by excluding women.
As nations, we all face remarkable challenges despite our differences, because the
transformations that lay ahead transcend legal changes. We need to move from normative
gender equality to a substantive equality: From words to practice and from sensibility about
the problem to action.
We have to achieve this in a complex environment that might exacerbate the existing gaps
between men and women. To financial globalization, trade liberalization, the emergence of
new economies of information and knowledge information, as well as clean and circular
economies, the constant privatization of public services, and the growing pressure of
groups with special interests, we need to add the resurgence of violent armed conflicts,
devastating natural cataclysms, harmful environmental effects caused by climate change
and recurring economic crises, one deeper than the other, where extremisms, neo
machismos, social violence, migration waves and insecurity thrive...
Within this context, it is of vital importance to address the difficult fiscal situation faced by
many developing countries, which has crippling effects for public policies that strengthen
and enlarge programs and projects that promote the economic empowerment of women.
The cultural context, with its practices, stereotypes, patterns and customs, also presents
obstacles because it is deeply rooted at home, at school, at work and in the media,
recreating and reinforcing the feminine role of procreation and orientation toward the private
world, in stark contrast to the masculine role of productivity and orientation toward the public
world that embodies some of the highly esteemed values of today’s societies, such as
money, success and power.
Therefore, we have a challenge of encouraging women to enter the public world and men to
assume more responsibilities in the private world. It is of utmost importance to work towards
assume a social notion of responsibility for the child and dependent care, as a stepping
stone to stir change in both directions, by allowing women to have more time, resources and
spirits to join and fully develop in the labor market, as well as other economic activities,
socially, culturally and politically.
Before I go deeper into this idea, I would like to point other important challenges that need
to be addressed in order to foster gender equality and economic empowerment of women:
First, incorporating more women in the formal labor market. On average, only 50% of women
in the world participate in the labor market, 26 percentage points below the level of
participation of males.
Despite higher levels of schooling among women compared to men, the transition from the
educational system to the labor market has been difficult: In most countries, unemployment
rates are consistently higher for females than males with similar levels of education.
Procreation and child care tend to reduce women’s participation in the labor market. For
example, ECLAC estimated that in Latin America when there are children younger than 5
years old at a household, the rate of participation of women if 60% of men’s, increasing to
75%, if the children are older, and reaching 80% if there are no children in the household.
Second, reducing the wage gap between men and women. On average the latter earn 24%
less than men for comparable jobs. The recent decline in the worldwide gap has more to do
with the deterioration of men’s wages than an improvement of female salaries.
Estimates show that women will earn half the income of men throughout their lifetimes. This
explains why they are more likely to live in poverty, and why poverty is becoming
progressively a feminine phenomenon.
The panorama worsens when women’s unpaid work is considered. It has been highly
documented that subsistence or marginal activities, as well as family work, especially in
agricultural areas and fisheries, employ a significant number of women whose work does not
receive any economic compensation.
Closing the gender wage gap requires a real implementation –which means explicitly
fostered and monitored- of the principal of equal wage (or equal value) for equal work.
Encouraging females to participate in more instances of public and private wage
negotiations could help achieving greater equity while ensuring a more transparent process.
Third, creating more decent Jobs for women. Gender gaps in social security coverage have
been well documented as well. In developing countries an immense majority of women work
in the informal sector, without any social security protection or right to a pension. This
situation is particularly poignant for rural women, especially those working in agriculture, or
among paid domestic workers.
According to UN WOMEN data, it is less likely for women to enjoy a pension when they retire.
If they do, it is usually lower than what men receive, because due to procreation and child
care, that usually impose a temporary retirement from the labor market, women made fewer
contributions to social security than their male counterparts. Even in countries with good
pension coverage, women are less likely than men to live in poverty.
It is important, therefore, to promote and finance sustainable social coverage among
informal workers, self-employed workers and domestic workers, accompanying this with a
clear legal framework, along with monitoring instruments and incentives for informal workers
who regularize their situation, as well as resources for financing child care and domestic
work.
Fourth, creating quality employment by encouraging entrepreneurship among women. This
implies providing technical and financial support and adequate incentives to induce the
formalization of businesses.
In this area significant disadvantages for women persist. OECD studies conclude that
women in G20 countries represent only 25% of business owners who hire employees. They
seldom own big businesses and the income they derive from auto employment is 60% of
what self-employed businessmen earn.
Companies owned by women have less capital, fewer employees and belong to low
productivity categories, compared to those owned by men.
To counter this situation it is necessary to enact public policies that encourage women's
entrepreneurship, taking into consideration their specific needs and guaranteeing equal
access to productive and financial resources while preventing any discrimination in credit
markets.
A closer look at successful experiences involving public and private financing within
associative schemes might be necessary. Coincidentally it is important strengthen
mechanisms for entrepreneur women to share experiences, dialoguing and conducting
negotiations.
Fifth, raising female control over productive assets is crucial because there is evidence that
women tend to save more and to distribute a bigger proportion of their resources among
family members and their surrounding communities. Their incomes have a notable
multiplying effect.
Better access to credit, financial and banking services and incentive provision to further
capitalize women’s assets, including land and businesses, are necessary to allow greater
control over their capital, and therefore cementing their economic opportunities.
Because of its sheer relevance for developing countries and considering the critical situation
of women in rural areas, it is essential to carry out affirmative actions in order to fully assess
the value of women's contribution to the agricultural sector, by granting access to productive
resources through land titling and recognizing the value of their of unpaid work.
Actions carried away in response to the 5 issues I have laid out would be further enhanced
by addressing urgently and firmly an additional topic I introduced earlier in my comments:
Dismantling structural barriers that prevent women from accessing the labor market on
equal footing as men.
For years the feminist movement indicated the existence of unequal distribution of gender
roles with clear implications for the use of time, income availability and access to power,
which in turn has an impact on the differential access women have to the public sphere.
Females have less time and money for job training and for accessing the labor market, and
tend to concentrate on low-wages economic sectors that provide limited social security
coverage. And they also tend to occupy lower positions than men in the company hierarchy.
This ideology generates and reproduces attitudes that permeate market logic about which
occupations are and which are not suitable for women. This logic is taught at home and is
reinforced by the educational system, in the workplace at all levels as well as in the media.
Perhaps one of the most relevant issues of the existing model is that it devalues domestic
work and unpaid child and dependent care, which are disproportionately performed by
women.
It is very difficult to contemplate full and egalitarian access to the labor market for females
when according to UN WOMEN they must dedicate more than twice the time of men to
unpaid domestic work and child care. Many must shorten their paid working day to bear the
burden of family obligations, with the consequent loss of income in comparison to men.
Currently the national accounts do not reflect adequately this vital activity of breeding and
training the future generations because it occurs within the confines of the household and in
the intimate sphere of family dynamics. Traditional economy reinforces the misconception
that the work performed by women in the private world is not work.
Several countries have created satellite accounts to measure the value of the work of women
in these areas. My country, Costa Rica, is taking decisive steps in this direction. However,
we still face the challenge of fairly valuing that part of the economy that has remained in the
dark for so long, and doing so with a consistent and comparable methodology.
Eradicating structural limitations that curtail women’s access to the labor market on
egalitarian terms requires clear and effective efforts to provide care services not only for low
income, but also to medium income families. We need to move firmly towards assuming the
social responsibility of care.
This requires more active participants than men and the state. It also involves businesses as
they can offer flexibility and opportunity to their employees, both male and women, so they
may tend their family obligations in a more equitable fashion.
I want to emphasize this. If we expect to effect positive change for the economic
empowerment of women, we need to address multi-dimensional issues capable of
structurally undermining the current paradigm. A paradigm that has taken us to where we
are today, segregated by gender, producing and reproducing gender inequalities.
This multi-dimensional issue, in my opinion, is the social responsibility of child and
dependent care. A strategy centered on it will have profound ramifications; therefore certain
conditions must prevail if it is to be successful:
1. An integral and coherent scope. Deconstructing gender roles will impact different
areas where they reproduce.
2. A sound institutional leadership with a gender perspective, to coordinate all efforts and
consolidate alliances between different sectors around substantive issues.
3. Strong and innovative alliances between civil society, feminist and women’s
movements, human rights institutions, neighboring national and local governments,
business people, international donors, the United Nations and other regional and
international organizations.
4. Participatory channels that encourage and strengthen female leadership.
5. Solid information and monitoring systems to assess policy impacts and to ensure
transparency. Baseline studies are also needed to assess policy performance. An
information-sharing platform for international best practices and experiences is a
fundamental.
6. Fiscal stability to finance and support inclusive public policies for the economic
empowerment of women and gender equality.
7. Adequate and strategic financing from diverse sources (public, private or from the
Official Development Assistance) around gender-sensitive budgets, with detailed costs,
linked to a clearly defined investment policy, and with control mechanisms guarantee the
use of resources.
I would like to thank you again for your participation here today and reiterate my high hopes
that the process we are starting today will produce concrete, actionable and measurable
results that will benefit all the women in the world and the development in all the nations.
Thank you very much!