Profile of Latin American Women

 The data

 Women are expanding their capacity to acquire greater equality socially, politically and economically but unfortunately have limited economic opportunities:

• Increasing enrollment of education by girls
• Increasing growth in the labor force
• Looking at global data, there is significantly less participation by women vs men especially in MENA and South Asian countries
• Change in earnings is mixed, but slightly better. There are major declines in Bolivia, Ecuador, and San Salvador
• Deep labor market segmentation with regard to women working in non-agricultural sectors
• For young girls, there is no difference in educational participation but marked disparity entering the labor force, correlating directly to highly increasing fertility rates amongst adolescents and the poor

Gains in political participation are on the horizon, but will women make the most of it?

• Significant increase of seats held in parliament (22%)
• Significant increase in voting participation by aging women due to high survival rates compared to men
• 12 countries of 17 have quotas for seating women in government, which is clearly driving the increased seats

Interaction between gender and exclusion:

• White (non-indigenous) girls and boys lead non-white (indigenous) in terms of educational attainment, indicating cultural barriers and/or exclusionary opportunities

Aging is becoming a feminine issue:

• Women are out-surviving men and the gap is particularly dramatic past age 70
• Women are helping families weather crisis, tending to enter the work force at greater rates in times of crises or physical/economic emergencies

Policy implications of the data

1. Expand economic opportunities for girls and women
2. Adolescents need attention, training, and encouragement
3. Older women, though increasingly vulnerable, can be a crucial voting block
4. Address solutions for excluded women (e.g. those excluded from education, training, jobs, or political appointment)