Sonia Montaño, Officer in charge of the Division for Gender Affairs at ECLAC, analyses the progress made after the Quito Consensus, the statement resulting from the 10th Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Ecuador in 2007.

During that conference, governments pledged to take specific actions to foment women’s political participation and the quality of employment for women.

Montaño also discussed the challenges to be discussed during the 11th Conference, to take place in Brasilia on July 13-16, 2010.

What were the main issues discussed at the 10th Regional Conference on Women in Quito?
There were very important issues, but two were the main ones: parity in women’s political participation and the recognition of non-paid work. The discussion on parity was largely inspired by the recent election at the time of President Michelle Bachelet in Chile, due to the interest that sparked in regional governments and women’s institutions, to the extent that it showed that parity is not only possible by establishing quotas in Congress, but also in the Executive.

Regarding the second issue, it was important to recognize how non-paid work is behind the low participation of women in the labour market and in politics.

In your opinion, how much progress has been made in terms of public policies in these two areas since 2007?
We have observed very important progress that we could call cultural-symbolic: women were elected presidents in Chile and Argentina and prime minister in Jamaica, and there is gender parity in the government cabinet in Spain. This created a climate that helped women’s political positioning. Although women in power continue to be a minority, these changes publicly asserted their capacity in exercising a role in decision-making. This recognition was one of the goals of the Quito Consensus.

Moreover, several countries took positive measures that allowed greater political participation by women. It’s the case of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, countries that seemed to be lagging behind, but that today have a greater presence of women in politics, fostered additionally by reforms in their Constitutions. We can say that today the trend in the region is favourable to a greater role for women in politics. The system of legal quotas associated with the electoral system has worked well and is very important.

As for non-paid work, there have been significant achievements, especially regarding its recognition. In the Quito Conference we were very interested in learning more about this issue and its impact in the region. Today we have more information and more countries concerned about this issue. ECLAC has contributed significantly with research on non-paid work and the creation of the Observatory on Gender Equality.

Additional evidence of the importance being given to the role of women after Quito are the subsidies and monetary transfer programs geared at women, which are increasingly recognizing and appreciating the care giving work of women in their households, as is the case in Mexico and Brazil.

Another important advance are the services established in some countries to improve childcare or enact laws on parental leave. Nations are discussing legislation that would allow men take care of their children, contributing to a greater role-sharing between men and women and allowing women more opportunities to work or study.

Haiti passed a law that regulates paid domestic work, and Guatemala enacted legislation to combat violence against women. Chile approved social security reforms providing subsidies to mothers who couldn’t enter the labour market because they had to take care of their children. All of these initiatives are concrete advances after the Quito Conference.

What is expected of the 11th Regional Conference in Brasilia?

The conference in Brasilia should help us consolidate these achievements and set new goals. We will review all aspects of the economy, particularly considering all that has happened with the global economic crisis. We are very aware of the new challenges we as women are facing. One of them is climate change, because combating it will take a lot of work and commitment. We will have to fight for the world we want to leave our children and for the kind of State we want and the equality we must continue to build.