(21 June 2010) Heads of State, government ministers, representatives of international organizations and civil society will gather from 13 to 16 July in Brasilia, Brazil, for the Eleventh Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This is the most important intergovernmental forum in the region for the analysis of public policies for gender equality. Over 800 people are expected to attend.
The Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean is a subsidiary body of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) which is convened every three years. Its main objectives are to serve as a forum of discussion on gender issues, present public policy recommendations and assess the compliance of regional agreements and plans under the perspective of women's needs.
The Eleventh Conference will focus on the question "What kind of State? What kind of equality?". ECLAC will present a position paper which will examine the achievements and challenges of governments in the region on the issue of gender equality, in light of the interplay between the State, the market and families, that together may establish the conditions in which social and gender hierarchies are changed or perpetuated.
What kind of State for what kind of equality? is the question that the document poses and tries answer from the perspective of women's human rights, the parameter set by the community of nations for driving and measuring progress towards gender equality.
The Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean will take place in the Hotel Royal Tulip Brasilia Alvorada and will be officially inaugurated by on Tuesday, 13 July by ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena. The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and some of the region's female Heads of State are expected to attend the opening ceremony.
The Executive Secretary of ECLAC will the present the main working document during a high-level panel and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will deliver a master lecture.
Five work sessions will be held from 14-15 July in which more than 40 panelists will address the main issues examined in the document:
An Ad hoc meeting on Haiti and Chile titled "(Re)building equality" will be held on 15 July.
The Conference will conclude on Friday, 16 July, with the presentation of the Consensus of Brasilia, a document containing the agreements and commitments taken on by governments and which will set the course of the future agenda.
The media is welcome to participate in the Eleventh Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.
More information on media registration and the Conference in general is available on the ECLAC webpage.
For enquiries, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section. Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040/2149.
