Gender Equality Bulletin – No. 3. International trade as an opportunity to promote women’s economic autonomy: contributions for reflection in Latin America and the Caribbean

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean face structural challenges linked to the pattern of productive and commercial specialization and to persistent gender inequalities in labor markets and in the social organization of care. Low productive diversification and vulnerability to external shocks have a negative impact on the achievement of gender equality. These factors inhibit the dynamism of the labor market, restrict the use of capacities and result in an unequal distribution of the benefits of growth and the costs of economic adjustments. Furthermore, violence against women, the overload of unpaid work and gender wage gaps act as obstacles to the full participation of women in the economies, and limit innovation and the creation of more diverse work environments and productive structures with greater levels of complexity and more egalitarianism (ECLAC, 2019).