The gender perspective in economic and labour policies: state of the art in Latin America and the Caribbean

The member countries of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) have called for an integrated approach to development. Despite making significant macroeconomic progress in the 1990s, the Latin American economies reached the end of the decade with relative poverty levels above those of 1980, while labour market conditions have worsened in most countries. To achieve development with equity, it is essential to apply a gender perspective to public-policy formation, as a technical-analytical instrument to accompany the overall ethical-political goal. For the United Nations, and hence for ECLAC, gender mainstreaming is the process of examining the implications for women and men of all types of planned public actions, including legislation, policies and programmes in any area. 'It is also a tool for turning men's and women' interests and needs into an integrated dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, social and economic domains'. The purpose of this diagnostic study is to describe how and to what extent the region's governments have built this concern for gender equity into economic and especially labour market policies. The study is expected to help implement agreements and resolutions arising from regional conferences (Regional Programme of Action for the Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1995-2001; and the Santiago and Lima Consensuses) and global agreements (the Beijing Platform for Action; the commitments of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations), with regard to institutionalizing the gender perspective and Women's rights in public policies. This is a pioneering study focusing on a number of formal aspects that have been identified as potential indicators of the extent of gender mainstreaming in economic and labour policies and programmes. These include commitments assumed; institutional mechanisms adopted; new legal provisions; programmes implemented; and technical and financial resources made available. The indicators analysed here reflect the results achieved on gender mainstreaming in the region's countries during the 1990s, but do not consider the processes that have led to their achievement. The latter have either been addressed in other studies or are still awaiting analysis. The results of this analysis have been made available to governments and other interested parties, as a contribution to implementing and enhancing what are increasingly effective mechanisms and strategies for achieving the goal of gender mainstreaming in all public policies and interventions — and hence, development with social and gender equity.