Link to Article: https://latinamericanpost.com/34581-has-gender-equality-improved-for-women-in-latin-america
This article discusses the role women play in society and recognizing the the on-going gender gap in Latin America.
In the first sector of the interview, Vice President of Panama discusses the minimalistic contribution women take in decision-making positions. According to the UN Women, only 25 percent of women participate in parliament. However, the VP declares the actions put in movement in the Panama government, such as legistration requiring that 30 percent of women participate on government boards and regulated companies. Panama’s decision is very noteworthy, seeing as only 7 percent of women participate in the executive staff globally and earn 16 percent less than men. These statistics contradict with the many global studies that indicate that governance comes from skills which women exel at such as: listening, inducing empathy and reaching consensus.
The article then moves onto the pressing topic of violence against women. The UN Women communicated that globally, 1/3 women have suffered physical or sexual assult from an intimate partner. This resulted in the UN Declaration of the Elmination of Violence against Women in 1933.
The report shifts to the lack of education many women have despite recent technological advances. In developing countries, 70 young women for every 100 young men complete secondary school in developing countries and contribute to two-thirds of the illiterate people worldwide. The article states that this might be because these women live in conflict-states where war affects them differently than men.
The paper wraps up by stating that government budgeting must be provided in order to provide women with equal opportunities as men. As the article blatatntly stated, women inequality is not only an issue in Latin America, but around the world.
This article reiterates that wome have suffered from constantly being set second in comparisson to men for hundreds of years. In every country across the globe women feel they are not treated the same as men in various ways. On a regular basis women throughout the world have to deal with a lower income, lack of education, sexual and physical abuse as well as degradation. In a lower budgeted region such as Latin America women face this on a more regular basis than MDCs, and depending on the way one countrys’ government responds, can maybe influence and begin to redesign what it means to be a women in society. The pro-equality laws and legislation that some Latin American countries have presented, such as Panama, could be the beginning of a new modern era where women are considered equal to men.
This connects with what we are disscussing in class because depending on the modernization, type of aristocracy and overall setting of a country can directly reflect to the treatment of women in a country/region/etc. Also the influence and spread of women equality throughout the US has been shown in other countries through globalization and the same with other countries. This directly connects with international relations in that relationships between foreign countries can influence policys, standards and customs.