WASHINGTON, March 08 2015 – On this March 8, International Women’s Day, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action signed by 189 governments, among them the governments of 48 members of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
From the start of the agenda agreed in Beijing, the IDB pledged to advance toward gender equality and the empowerment of women. In these 20 years we have worked with governments in the region to expand our contribution. In 2014, 36 percent of our investment operations made a substantive contribution to parity between women and men through projects as varied as the construction of highways or citizen security. And we are investing more in projects that prevent violence against women and expand their economic participation.
The advancement of women carries with it a promise of progress for all of society. Equality at home, in access to education and health, in the job and financial markets and in participation in civic and political life contribute to improving social well-being and economic development.
This promise is becoming a reality in Latin America and the Caribbean. The growth in the income of women between 2000 and 2010 translated into a drop of 30 percent in extreme poverty. Today, women account for 30 to 60 percent of the household income in the region. This has been possible thanks to their growing participation in the labor force, which rose from 48.8 percent in 2000 to 53.8 percent in 2012 and which surely will continue to rise.
Despite this progress, there is much to do to reach gender equality. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the participation of women in the labor force remains 26 percentage points below the rate for men. On average, women earn 17 percent less than men in similar jobs. Nearly 30 percent of the women in the region have suffered physical or sexual violence at the hands of their spouses or others.
On this International Women’s Day, we reaffirm our commitment to the advancement of women and the achievement of more prosperous and egalitarian societies.
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