Between July 3 and 4, the event was held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, Fifth Meeting of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean where the Second Regional Report on the implementation of the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development by the Technical Secretariat was presented, and the achievements of the Montevideo Consensus and the challenges for its implementation 30 years after the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) were addressed.
The agenda of this meeting included a side event, “The Regional Gender Agenda and the Montevideo Consensus: synergies for equality,” with the participation of Susana Sottoli, UNFPA Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ana Cristina González Vélez, ECLAC consultant, Lucía Scuro, Senior Social Affairs Officer of the Gender Affairs Division, Juan Carlos Alfonso, Deputy Chief of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) of Cuba, and Simone Cecchini, Director of the Population Division/CELADE of ECLAC, moderated by Zulma Sosa of the same Division.
The meeting aimed to discuss the elements of synergies between the Regional Gender Agenda and the Montevideo Consensus. Referring to the document: “Women’s physical autonomy in the Regional Gender Agenda and in the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development: a virtuous thread” and addressing the issue of women’s autonomy from its various angles, emphasizing the link with the aging processes and care needs.
Lucía Scuro, representative of the Gender Affairs Division of ECLAC, pointed out the importance of untying the structural knots of gender inequality, taking into account the agreements adopted by the countries both within the framework of the Montevideo Consensus and in the Regional Gender Agenda, and charting the path towards a care society. The professional linked the ageing processes that the region is going through, and the increase in the population aged 65 and over, with the challenges posed by the care crisis. She outlined the characteristics of care as a need, a job and a right, going into more detail about what this implies in terms of demographics, the promotion of the care economy and the guarantee of the right to care by States. In closing, Scuro emphasised the need to act with a sense of urgency and to scale up efforts. She stressed that “It is time for transformational changes such as those proposed by the care society, a collective construction with gender and social co-responsibility to close gender gaps and advance towards substantive equality.” She added that “care sectors have the potential to boost economies, accelerate recovery and generate decent employment.”
Ana Cristina González pointed out that “The Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development and the Regional Gender Agenda come together in many aspects, the most obvious being gender equality, the chapter with the greatest number of priority measures, highlighting the effects of demographic dynamics on care needs, and the persistent gender inequality in the distribution of unpaid domestic work and care. She highlighted that the chapter on Ageing, social protection and socio-economic challenges urges the inclusion of care in social protection systems, maximising autonomy, particularly of older persons, guaranteeing rights, dignity and well-being of families and older persons, very much in line with what has been proposed in the Regional Gender Agenda for more than 4 decades.”
For his part, Juan Carlos Alfonso, Deputy Head of the National Office of Statistics and Information of Cuba, pointed out that “the relevance of both instruments highlights the normative advances in Cuba for equality between men and women.” He highlighted the work together with the Federation of Cuban Women for the scaffolding of the Cuban Women’s Observatory.”
The Regional Gender Agenda explores how to overcome the sexual division of labour and the unjust social organisation of care in order to propose moving towards a care society, and places the sustainability of life and the planet at the centre of sustainable development.
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