A dozen representatives of civil society and Latin American activists came to the capital of the United States to celebrate the fourth Forum of Women’s Organizations of the Americas to discuss the main challenges facing the region in gender equality.
“It is extremely relevant to listen to the voices of women. We are living the decade of women. It is becoming a regional agenda to give them space, ”she told the voice of america Nadia Ramos, spokesperson for the Somos Lideresas Hemispheric Network.
During the forum, held at the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), Somos Lideresas presented the Washington Declaration, in which organizations from the region demand government action on 17 key issues with a gender perspective.
Among the demands promoted with the declaration is the strengthening of national dialogues, promoting gender equality as a basis for sustainability, strengthening budgets to combat gender inequality, among others.
Ramos said that this declaration occurs after national dialogues convened by Somos Lideresas in 15 Latin American countries with the representation of international organizations, civil society organizations, academia, journalists and the private sector.
Somos Lideresas emerged in June 2022 during the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles as a regional movement of women’s organizations made up of 24 organizations. One year later, the network houses over 42 women’s advocacy groups.
“This session has allowed us to appreciate the importance of having the voices of women’s organizations,” she told the VOA María Celina Conte, director of the OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat.
The day’s agenda was divided into four panels led by experts from Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, among other countries.
On the one hand, the impact of the mandates of the Summit of the Americas on women and girls was addressed. These mandates are guidelines that result from meetings between high-level authorities from different countries to define the course of action on issues of democracy and governance.
Elvia Ramírez, a Mexican activist and public policy expert, assured that the limitations of these mandates is “how countries can follow up and comply with them.”
“Politically they agree, but programmatically they do not have a budget, there are no legislative changes,” he said.
This was agreed by Gina Romero, co-founder of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy, who pointed to data from the Citizen Observatory on Corruption, which estimates that only 30% of the countries in the region have provisions for the promotion of equity and equality. of gender in anti-corruption policies.
The 2019 Global Corruption Barometer, on the other hand, says that women are more vulnerable to paying bribes to receive health services and those with fewer resources to pay bribes to access judicial services.
“Strong political will is required to identify anti-corruption actions and take into account differentiated effects on women,” said Romero.
The agenda included panels on gender violence in Peru, as well as a conversation on inequality in access to health systems for women in Latin America.
The role of women in competencies regarding gender equality and climate change was also discussed.
Laura Rossi, a member of Somos Lideresas, assured that there are “great challenges” in the transition to green energy and the performance of women in said change, starting with environmental literacy.
“It must be specified that this climate change occurs in a differentiated way between men and women with regard to its causes and effects,” added Melissa Huayhua, president of Suyay de los Andes, an organization that promotes sustainable projects in Peru.
According to Huayhua, the women of indigenous communities are directly affected by climate change because they depend on the ecosystems that are suffering from the environmental phenomenon.
The forum’s agenda also focused on the empowerment and leadership of women in decision-making and in public policies with a human rights and gender perspective.
The fourth Forum of Women’s Organizations of the Americas takes place within the framework of the 53rd OAS General Assembly, which will begin next Wednesday and will last until Friday.
“The issues that have been discussed on this occasion are all related to the issues that the Assembly is going to address, which are democracy, democratic governance, the issue of human rights and equality,” added Conte.
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