2006 Report: a Look at Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean
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2006 2006 REPORT: A LOOK AT GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2006 REPORT: A LOOK AT GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN This report was prepared under the supervision of José Luis Machinea, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It was coordinated by Sonia Montaño, Chief of the ECLAC Women and Development Unit. She and Carlos Maldonado were responsible for the final version and for organizing all contributions. The report was prepared with the valuable help of Vivian Milosavljevic in the analysis of statistical data. Thanks are also extended to Diane Alméras, Jéssica Cuadros, Paola Meschi, Nieves Rico and Ximena Sánchez of the Women and Development Unit for their contributions. Other contributions were made by technical teams from the following United Nations agencies and organizations: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The authors are particularly grateful for the collaboration of the following persons: Rosa Blanco, Director a.i., UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, and César Guadalupe of UNESCO; Mirta Roses, Director of PAHO, and Elsa Gómez and Lily Jara of PAHO; Marcela Suazo, Director, Latin American and Caribbean Division of UNFPA, and Luis Mora of UNFPA; Marijke Velzeboer- Salcedo, Chief, Latin America and the Caribbean Section of UNIFEM; and Dinys Luciano, UNIFEM consultant. The original versions of sections A, C and D of chapter II were prepared, respectively, by Elsa Gómez of PAHO; Luis Mora of UNFPA and Dinys Luciano, UNIFEM consultant. Simone Cecchini, Juan Carlos Feres, Xavier Mancero and Pablo Villatoro of ECLAC contributed their comments on the drafting of the document. The authors also express their appreciation for the financial contribution of UNIFEM. Explanatory note The following symbols have been used in the tables presented in this document: Three dots (...) indicate that data are missing, are not separately reported or are unavailable. A minus sign (-) indicates a deficit or decrease, unless otherwise indicated. A full stop (.) is used to indicate decimals. Use of a hyphen between years, e.g., 2000-2002, signifies an annual average for the calendar years involved, including the beginning and ending years. The word “dollars” refers to United States dollars, unless otherwise specified. Figures and percentages in tables may not necessarily add up to the corresponding totals due to rounding. Distr.: General · LC/G.2352 · December 2007 · Original Spanish · © United Nations · Printed in Santiago, Chile iii CONTENTS Page FOREWORD ....................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 3 I. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND GENDER EQUALITY........................ 5 A. BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................... 5 B. INTERNATIONAL MANDATES AND COMMITMENTS ................................................ 8 C. AVAILABLE DATA AND INDICATORS USED ............................................................... 11 1. Measurement of the Millennium Development Goals in the region ................................ 11 2. Indicators used.................................................................................................................. 12 D. PROGRESS REPORT............................................................................................................ 15 1. An overall context of inequality....................................................................................... 15 2. Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger ................................................................ 17 3. Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women................................................... 28 II. WOMEN’S AUTONOMY AND EMPOWERMENT.................................................................. 51 A. UNPAID WORK AND WOMEN’S AUTONOMY .............................................................. 51 1. Poverty, unpaid work and gender equity.......................................................................... 52 2. Mandates and concepts of unpaid work and care work.................................................... 54 3. Diagnosis: the gender distribution of unpaid work in Latin America .............................. 60 4. Proposals: public policies and harmonization between the public and private spheres .......................................................................................... 69 B. PARITY IN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND ACCESS TO DECISION-MAKING... 73 1. Diagnosis: women’s presence in the various decision-making spheres ........................... 74 2. Proposals: towards an agenda of parity within the Millennium Development Goals framework.............................................................................................................. 84 C. REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH....................................................................................... 86 1. The Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and other mandates................................................................. 86 2. The diagnosis: sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin America and the Caribbean............................................................................................................. 88 3. Proposals: legislation and public policies on the subject of reproductive rights.............. 101 D. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN......................................................................................... 106 1. Diagnosis: types and dimensions of violence against women.......................................... 107 2. Policies............................................................................................................................. 120 III. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 121 A. TOWARDS THE FULL ATTAINMENT OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL....................................................................................................... 121 1. Evolution and monitoring of Goal 3 and its relationship with poverty erradication.......................................................................................................................121 2. Unpaid work performed by women..................................................................................123 3. Political participation and parity......................................................................................126 4. Reproductive rights and universal access to sexual and reproductive health...................127 5. Violence against women..................................................................................................128 iv Page Annex 1 – INDICATORS USED AND STATUS OF INFORMATION............................................ 131 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................................ 139 Tables, figures and boxes Table I.1 Official, complementary and additional indicators for Millennium Development Goal 1, target 1, and for Goal 3........................................................... 14 Table I.2 Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.......................................................... 18 Table I.3 Latin America (12 countries): femininity index by poverty status, population aged 20 to 59, urban areas, around 1994, 1999, 2002 and 2005................................ 24 Table I.4 Heads of household, according to poverty status and selected characteristics .......... 27 Table I.5 Poverty and employment status ................................................................................. 28 Table I.6 Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women............................................ 29 Table I.7 Ratio of women’s income to that of men................................................................... 41 Table I.8 Latin America (16 countries): global fertility rate and unmet demand for contraceptives, by stage of demographic transition ............................................. 44 Table I.9 Women aged 15 to 49 who have been victims of physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or previous partner ....................................... 45 Table I.10 Latin America and the Caribbean (21 countries): categorization of the information on quota systems in favour of gender equity ......................................... 49 Table II.1 Latin America and the Caribbean (14 countries): timeline of enactment of quota laws and subsequent amendments ............................................................... 74 Table II.2 Selected countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: trend in the proportion of women aged 15 to 19 who have had children, by simple age group, 1990 and 2000 census rounds...................................................................................