Gender Equality
The
Summit of the Americas process recognizes that women's empowerment,
their full and equal participation in the development of our
societies, and their equal opportunities to exercise leadership are
all central to the reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic
and social prosperity, people-centered sustainable development,
consolidation of democracy and conflict resolution and the
development of equal partnerships between women and men.
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Mar del Plata, Argentina,
2005
IV Summit of the Americas
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In the
Declaration of Mar del Plata,
the Heads of State and Government of the OAS Member States
agreed to fight gender-based discrimination in the work place
by promoting equal opportunities through an integrated
approach that incorporates a gender perspective in labor
policies, and promotes more opportunities for ownership of
businesses by women. The Leaders committed to strive to
ensure equal access to education, training, and remuneration,
paying special attention to gender-differentiated needs.
To
these meet these goals, in the
Plan of Action
of Mar del Plata, the Heads of State and Government committed
to implement a range of policies that will increase women’s
access to decent, dignified, and productive work, including
policies addressing training and education, and protection of
the rights of women, as well as proactive policies to ensure
gender equality in the workplace. Likewise, the Heads of
State and Government agreed to ensure equal access to the
benefits of social protection and to guarantee attention to
gender issues in labor and social policies. Finally, they
agreed to strengthen, in cooperation with the Inter-American
Commission of Women (CIM), ILO, and the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), national
capacities to produce statistics particularly focused on labor
matters broken down by gender and race.
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Monterrey, Mexico, 2004
Special Summit of the Americas |
In the Declaration of Nuevo Leon of the Special Summit, the Heads of
State and Government reiterated that the empowerment of women, their
full and equal participation in the development of our societies, and
their equal opportunities to exercise leadership are fundamental for
the reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic and social
prosperity, and for people-centered sustainable development. The
leaders furthermore reaffirmed their commitment to continue promoting
gender equality and equity and the mandates of the Summits of the
Americas on this matter.
The Heads of State and Government affirmed that trafficking in persons
especially affects women and children, and agreed to cooperate in the
fight against this scourge. With regard to the development of sound
political parties as an essential element of democracy, the leaders
agreed to encourage political training and leadership development for
women, youth, and indigenous people, among others.
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Quebec City, Canada, 2001
Third Summit of the Americas
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In
the 2001 Quebec City Summit, the role of CIM as the technical
advisor to the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) on
all aspects of gender equity and equality was reinforced. They
also encouraged all Member States to provide resources to the
CIM to fulfill those activities. The use of information and
communications technologies to address inequalities and ensure
that all women have access to these technologies was promoted
as well.
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Third Summit of the Americas,
Quebec City, Canada 2001
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Gender
Equality |
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Gender Equality mandates from the Third Summit of the Americas |
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Recognizing that women's empowerment, their full and
equal participation in the development of our societies, and their
equal opportunities to exercise leadership are all central to the
reduction of poverty, the promotion of economic and social
prosperity, people-centered sustainable development, consolidation
of democracy and conflict resolution and the development of equal
partnerships between women and men; further recognizing that these
principles are the basis for promoting gender equality and women's
human rights in the Americas and working towards the elimination
of the full range of inequalities:
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Endorse the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of
Women's Human Rights and Gender Equity and Equality approved
at the First Meeting of Ministers or of the Highest Ranking
Authorities Responsible for the Advancement of Women, held
in April 2000, by the CIM; endorse as well the Regional
Programme of Action for the Women in Latin America and the
Caribbean 1995-2000 and the further actions and initiatives
adopted at the Twenty-Third Special Session of the UN
General Assembly (Beijing +5) to implement the Beijing
Declaration and its Platform for Action; and integrate a
gender perspective into the programs, actions and agendas of
national and international events, to ensure that women's
experiences and gender equality are an integral dimension of
the design, implementation and evaluation of government and
inter-American policies and programs in all spheres;
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Strengthen national machineries and other government bodies
responsible for the advancement of women and for the
promotion and protection of the human rights of women;
provide them with the necessary human and financial
resources, including through exploring innovative funding
schemes so that gender is integrated into all policies,
programs and projects; and support both the fundamental role
that women's organizations have played and will continue to
play in advancing gender equality and the joint efforts
between governments and the private sector which contribute
to respect and understanding of the human rights of women;
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Promote gender equity and equality and women's human rights
by strengthening and fostering women's full and equal
participation in political life in their countries and in
decision-making at all levels;
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Reinforce the role of the CIM as the technical advisor to
the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) on all aspects
of gender equity and equality and recognize the importance
of the CIM in follow-up to relevant Summit recommendations;
provide for an appropriate level of resources to the CIM to
carry out its role as the principal hemispheric
policy-generating forum for the advancement of the human
rights of women and particularly of gender equality; promote
the support and participation of the IDB, the World Bank and
ECLAC in the implementation of and follow-up to this Plan of
Action;
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Promote the use of information and communications
technologies as a mechanism to address inequalities between
men and women and ensure women's equality of access to these
new technologies and to the requisite training; to this end,
ensure that government connectivity programs and programming
at local, national and regional levels, integrate a gender
perspective representative of the diversity of women within
various groups, including indigenous peoples and rural and
ethnic minorities;
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Strengthen systems for collecting and processing statistical
data disaggregated by sex, and adopt the use of gender
indicators that will contribute to a baseline analysis of
the status of women and to the implementation of public
policies at the national and regional levels, and that make
it possible to improve the monitoring and assessment of
regional and international agreements;
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Quebec
Plan of Action (complete version):
English |
Spanish |
French |
Portuguese |
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Key documents in the area of
Gender
Equality
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Gender
Equality |
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Second Meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up
Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention
for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women, “Convention of Belém do Pará”
Washington, DC – July 24-25, 2006
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The Second Meeting of the Committee of Experts of the
Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the
Inter-American Convention for the Prevention, Punishment and
Eradication of Violence against Women, “Convention of Belém do
Pará” (MESECVI), took place on July 24-25, 2006, at OAS
headquarters in Washington, DC. Experts met to consider the
preliminary reports on the commitments made by States Party to
the Convention.
After the inaugural session, the Coordinating Committee of the
MESECVI reported on the activities of the Committee of Experts
on Violence (CEVI). In preparation for this meeting, the
Mechanism required each expert to prepare a preliminary report
on the follow-up of the implementation of the Convention
undertaken by a State, other than his or her own, Party to the
Convention.
Subsequently, a Plenary Session took place to discuss the
preliminary reports and to consider future civil society
participation in the MESECVI. During this Session, the
Committee agreed to request additional information from
various governments in order to improve these reports.
Further, the Committee decided to invite civil society to
contribute information on violence against women to the
Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
and to participate in the Third Meeting of the MESECVI,
scheduled to take place in April of 2007.
Further information about the meeting can be found at:
http://www.oas.org/cim/
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Gender Forum of the Americas
(April 7 - 9, 2005 Buenos Aires, Argentina) |
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XXXII Assembly of Delegates of the CIM
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The Thirty-second Assembly of Delegates of the CIM was held
in Washington D.C., October 27-29, 2004. The Assembly
elected a new Executive Committee for the 2004-2006 term.
Nilcéa Freire, Principal Delegate of the CIM and Minister at
the Secretariat for Women’s Policies of Brazil,
was elected President.
María José Argaña de Mateu, Principal Delegate of the CIM
and Minister at the Secretariat for Women of Paraguay, was
elected Vice-President. Other elected Executive Committee
members are Argentina, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Suriname.
Issues discussed at the
Assembly included the follow-up for the Second Meeting of
Women Ministers (REMIM II) and the Plan of Action of the
Summit of the Americas regarding proposals for gender
integration at the Fourth Summit. Other priority issues were
addressed such as the prevention and eradication of violence
against women, the fight against the crime of trafficking in
persons, especially women, adolescents, and children, and
the Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women’s
Rights and Gender Equity and Equality.
During this Assembly, the importance of the Summits of the
Americas was underscored. The President of the CIM, Yadira
Henriquez De Sánchez Baret, referred to the Declaration and
Plan of Action of Quebec City, and the Declaration of Nuevo
Leon. These documents emphasized the necessity to empower
women and provide equal opportunities to lead the economic
and social development and to reduce poverty.
Dr. Luis Alberto Rodríguez, Director of the Office for the
Summit Process of the Americas at the OAS, made a detailed
presentation on the Summit Process of the Americas. Dr.
Rodríguez described the architecture of the Summit Process
and reported on the progress of preparations for the IV
Summit of the Americas. The theme of the next Summit is
“Creating Employment to Confront Poverty and Strengthen
Democratic Governance”. This Summit will be held in November
2005 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
The General Committee of the
XXXII Assembly of Delegates of the CIM approved a
Declaration on the Adoption of the Statute of the
Mechanism to Follow up on Implementation of the
“Convention of Belém Do Pará”, as well as the
following resolutions:
Inter-American Convention on
the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence
Against Women, the Convention of Belém do Pará
Gender and Access to
Decent Work to Address Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance
Promoting the Role of Women in Conflict Prevention,
Management and Conflict Resolution and Post Conflict Peace
Building
Integration of a Gender
Perspective into Hemispheric Policies and in the Summit of
the Americas
Biennial Work Program of the
CIM 2004-2006: Program Guidelines
Meetings of the Executive
Committee for the Period 2004-2006
Venue and Date of the Thirty-Third Assembly of Delegates of
the Inter-American Commission of Women
Fighting the Crime of
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women, Adolescents and
Children.
The thirty-third Assembly of the Delegates of the CIM is
scheduled for November 2006, in El Salvador.
For more information on the XXXII
Assembly of Delegates of the CIM please click
here.
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Second Meeting of Ministers Responsible for
the Advancement of Women ( REMIM II) |
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The Second Meeting of Ministers or of
the Highest-Ranking Authorities Responsible for the
Advancement of Women in the Member States, a Summit of the
Americas Ministerial, was held in Washington, D.C. on April
21- 23, 2004. The
OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM)
organized the conference.
Dr. Irene Klinger, Executive Secretary
of the OAS Secretariat for the Summit Process made an
extensive and detailed
presentation on the Summits of the Americas process, the
results of the Special Summit held in Mexico in January 2004,
which addressed issues of poverty reduction, social
development and democracy, and the preparations for the IV
Summit of the Americas.
Dr. Klinger also addressed the evolution of mandates on
gender within the Summit process
(this presentation is available only in Spanish), the
advances made in region and the challenges that will require
ongoing efforts by countries as well as international
organizations.
Ministers also discussed issues
related to Women, Free Trade, and Economic Empowerment. In
addition, a workshop was held on April 20 entitled
“Engendering Legal and Judicial Systems,” organized by the
World Bank and the
CIM,
in which Ministers participated. The workshop addressed
issues such as the gap between rich and poor countries and
the feminization of poverty.
The Ministers approved a Declaration
(will be available soon) as well as a number of resolutions
including on the topic of Integrating a Gender Perspective
in the Summits of the Americas (will be available soon).
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The Fourth Regular Session of the Executive
Committee of the CIM
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The Fourth Regular Session of the Executive Committee of
the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) was held February
19-20, 2004, in Washington, D.C. Delegates discussed a number of
Summit of the Americas issues, such as: preparations for the
upcoming Second Meeting of Ministers, trafficking in women and
children, the meeting of experts on the follow up to the
Convention on Violence against Women (Belém do Para), and women’s
human rights.
The delegates continued the preparations for Second Meeting of
Ministers or of the Highest-Ranking Authorities Responsible for
the Advancement of Women in the Member States. The Ministerial,
one of the key components of the Summits of the Americas process,
will be held in Washington, D.C. April 21-23, 2004 and will focus
on issues of gender and economic integration. For the first time
Ministers will also be presenting their National Reports on best
practices in the areas of labor, justice and education.
Progress has been made in further expanding the Inter-American
Program on the Promotion of Women’s Human Rights and Gender Equity
and Equality (IAP) to incorporate a gender perspective into the
Meetings of Ministers of Education and Science and Technology.
These two new areas for development complement the existing ones
in Meetings of Ministers of Labor and Justice.
The Executive Committee also reviewed the preparations for the
Thirty Second Meeting of the CIM Assembly of Delegates, to be held
October 26-28, 2004, in Costa Rica. Elections will be held to
decide the new Presidency of the Commission as well as the members
of the Executive Committee. The Heads of Delegation will address
proposals for gender mainstreaming in the Plan of Action for the
Fourth Summit of the Americas to be held in 2005.
Several presentations were made to further inform the CIM
delegates on topics under discussion, including: the Special
Summit of the Americas held in Monterrey, Mexico, in January 2004,
by Dr. Irene Klinger, Executive Secretary of the Summits of the
Americas Secretariat; trafficking in women and children, by Juan
José Perez, Director for Latin America, the Netherlands Radio;
Gender and Technology by Dr. Alice Abreu, Director of the OAS
Office of Science and Technology; Trade, economic integration and
gender, by Barbara Kotschwar, Director of the Foreign Trade
Information System in the OAS Trade Unit.
The next meeting of the CIM Executive Committee will be held July
22-23, 2004, in Mexico City.
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CIM 2002- 2004 Executive Committee - Second
Regular Meeting July 17-18, 2003
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The Second Regular Meeting of the Executive Committee of the
Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) was held in
Washington, D.C. on July 17-18, 2003.
The two-day meeting began with a videoconference on “Women,
Peace and Security in the Americas”, organized by CIM and
Women Waging Peace, a civil society organization. The
videoconference brought together speakers in Washington,
Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia to discuss
the critical but under-recognized and under-valued role of
women in conflict prevention, resolution and post-conflict
reconstruction. The participants analyzed the integration of
a gender perspective in the issue of hemispheric security
and women’s contribution to peacemaking and peace building
in the Hemisphere.
The delegates also held discussions on a broad range of
issues, including presentation of the preliminary draft
agenda for the Second Meeting of Ministers or of the
highest-ranking Authorities Responsible for the Advancement
of Women. The Ministerial meeting will focus on the topic of
women, free trade and economic empowerment. The final draft
of the agenda for the Ministerial will be presented to the
next meeting of the Executive Committee.
The CIM will continue to work on the Inter-American Program
on the Promotion of Women’s Human rights and Gender Equity
and Equality in the areas of labor and justice, and in an
effort to expand the scope of the program, proposed to
extend the program into the areas of education and science
and technology.
The Executive Committee also considered options for
follow-up mechanisms to the Convention of Belém do Para
(Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women). The decision was made to entrust the Secretariat
with initiating the process of consultations with member
states, regional organizations, and civil society in order
to broaden the consultations on this topic.
The next meeting of the CIM Executive Committee is scheduled
for November 13-14, 2003 in Washington, D.C.
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The First Regular Session of the Executive
Committee of CIM (2002-2004) |
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The First Regular Session of the Executive Committee of CIM
was held February 20-21st, 2003 in Washington,
DC. The CIM received the Report on Activities of the
Permanent Secretariat of the CIM and a proposed work plan
for the mandates received at the XXXI Assembly of
Delegates. Other items discussed include the
Inter-American Program on the Promotion of Women’s Human
Rights and Gender Equity and Equality, Second Meeting of
Ministers or of the Highest Ranking Authorities Responsible
for the Advancement of Women in the Member States (REMIM
II), and Human Rights and Elimination of Violence Against
Women.
It was proposed that the REMIM
II be held in 2004 and the main agenda item will be “Women,
Trade and Economic Empowerment.” The CIM will work with the
OAS Trade Unit in preparing the necessary information and
recommendations for the Ministers.
The next meeting of the CIM Executive Committee will be in
July 2003.
For
more information on the First Regular Session of the
Executive Committee of CIM please click
here:
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First Indigenous Women’s Summit of the
Americas
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On November 30-December 4, 2002, the First Indigenous
Women’s Summit of the Americas was held in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Over 300 indigenous women and representatives of indigenous
women’s organizations from all over the world attended the
Summit. The meeting was inaugurated by the Nobel Peace Prize
winner Rigoberta Menchú.
The Summit was organized by the Indigenous Peace Initiative,
the Continental Indigenous Women’s Union, the International
Indigenous Women’s Forum, and the Rigoberta Menchú
Foundation. The objectives of the meeting were to mark the
achievements of indigenous women in various action areas, to
systemize the participation of indigenous women in
socio-economic and political realms, to strengthen and
broaden American indigenous women’s information and
organization networks, and to influence the views and
attitudes of various sectors and institutional actors.
The central topics of discussion were divided into 5 themes:
“indigenous and human rights”, “spirituality, education and
culture”, “leadership building and the empowerment to
guarantee full and active participation of indigenous
women”, “indigenous development and globalization” and
“gender from the perspective of indigenous women”
For more
information on First Indigenous Women’s Summit of the
Americas please visit the following website:
http://www.imo.org.mx/cumbre/espanol
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Women’s Participation in Political
Processes
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