Women in the digital economy, governance challenges in Latin America: this was the last day of the CAF Conference

The importance of including women in the development and implementation of new technologies, the challenges of the inter-American system, and the strengthening of democratic governance in Latin America were the key topics on the last day of the CAF Conference in Washington.

During the meeting, experts emphasized the “impressive gap” that exists in the incorporation of Latin American women in the productive sectors.

Ana María Biardi, CAF’s gender, inclusion and diversity manager, pointed out that in the region 27% of women do not have their own income, and their economic participation is 50.9%.

In other words, for every 100 poor men in Latin America, there are 116 poor women, according to Biardi.

“It is not only a matter of social justice, it is a matter of economic development,” said Priscila Villanueva, a digital transformation specialist at the LEAD University of Costa Rica.

Villanueva detailed four barriers that women face, the “unconscious biases” that are related to gender stereotypes, the role of caregivers that is imposed in society, access to resources and financing, and technological infrastructure.

“When you equalize and give women the same opportunities to be entrepreneurs as to own small businesses, we could increase global gross domestic product by up to $5 trillion,” said Tania Banens, Mastercard’s vice president of products, sustainability and inclusion.

In addition, it was highlighted that in Latin America, four out of 10 women cannot afford connectivity. That is, the technological devices to access the internet, or the Wi-Fi service itself.

Mariana Costa, co-founder of Laboratoria, an organization that works for the diversity of the digital economy, added that in “Latin America we fail to understand that bringing in the next generation is not the responsibility of women alone” and therefore, “we have not prioritized to build care systems” that allow women to fully enter the world of work.

“Part of the solution is for women to be behind the digital spaces that define our lives (…) we have to ensure that the gender equality agenda does not cease to be a priority,” she stated.

During the last day of the CAF Conference, the financial challenges that remain for migrants in Latin America, especially, according to experts, in access to banks. In addition, they highlighted how remittances have an important economic impact for the region.

The challenges of the inter-American system

At the beginning of the event, the former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, and the US ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Francisco Mora, exchanged thoughts on the future of the inter-American system “in light of many of the challenges that the region is facing.

Among them, migration, insecurity, and the “deterioration of some democratic institutions,” said Chinchilla.

Mora explained that the OAS has a “very delicate fiscal situation” and highlighted the approval of the first increase in the organization’s budget that was achieved last Wednesday, the first in more than ten years.

“There is recognition by the vast majority of members that it is not only worthwhile but also important (the budget) to address these issues,” he added.

Mora referred to the meeting held by the permanent council of the OAS on Tuesday, where the challenges faced by the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the importance of reviewing its scope were raised.

During the final conversation of the CAF Conference on democratic governance, Antonia Urrejola Noguera, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, also contributed to the conversation on the Democratic Charter, assuring that “the problem we have is not traditional democratic breakdowns but rather how they come to power people democratically and then use democratic tools to establish autocratic regimes.

Noguera took as an example the case of Nicaragua and the closure of public spaces in that country. “It is a regime that is increasingly isolated and closed to dialogue,” she pointed out.

Given this, the former minister added that “there is an obligation of the states to listen more to the Inter-American Human Rights System” when they issue communications about the deterioration of democratic spaces in the region.

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