Progress in Latin America: 

 

Increasing women empowerment is beneficial for all of us. One way we can do this is by continuing to implement policies and supporting organizations that aim to reduce inequalities among men and women with an intersectional perspective. It has been proven that lowering gender inequality by 10 percentage points could boost growth by 2 percentage points over five years (Kolovich, 2018).  Some important milestones include an increase in female labor force participation.  In Peru, for example, the female labor force participation increased by 15% over the past two decades thanks to changed laws that facilitated the entrance of women to the workforce (Gonzales et al. 2015). Likewise, in Chile, childcare programs lifted female labor force participation and helped the economy (Georgieva, 2020). 

 

There are a number of non-profit organizations that are currently working to increase women empowerment in Latin America. Here are a few examples:

 

Current efforts on the ground to increase women empowerment is being done on behalf of HIVOS, an organization that supports the initiatives of bold feminist activists and women's organizations, women entrepreneurs, women leaders and organizations that contribute to economic or political transformations that improve the position of women.

 

HIVOS has been working for over 50 years in social development programs in Guatemala, Bolivia, Costa Rica and Ecuador, and they also have offices in Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa.

 

HIVOS has an extensive network of partnerships that support a number of projects for social development. Some examples include lobbying and advocacy, funding and investment in women-led innovations.

Webpage: https://america-latina.hivos.org/que-hacemos/

 

¿Y yo, por qué no?, which means “why not me?” in spanish, is a mexican organization made up of young people (mostly high school students) who work for other young people. They approach gender violence, adolescent pregnancy, sexual and reproductive rights, women's empowerment and youth participation with an intersectional approach.

 

They created a blog that serves as a platform for other women and girls to get informed about current issues as well as to incite them to actively participate in politics. They also raise funds to bring their education program to rural areas in Mexico.

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Webpage: https://www.yyoporqueno.org/quienes-somos

 

Another organization that has notably helped women empowerment thrive in Latin America is Girl Up. Hosted at the UN Foundation, Girl Up was originally aimed at empowering american girls but has steadily expanded to different corners of the world. As of August 2020 there are 23 countries on Latin America and the Caribbean where over 270 clubs are located. Girl Up clubs have the liberty of focusing in whichever challenge they want and propose solutions to solve them .In the Latin American region, these challenges often have to do with the right to quality education as well as safe abortions and birth control, which still sparks up debate in countries like Argentina, Guatemala and Mexico that hold restrictive abortion laws. 

 

Anyone can form a Girl Up club. They are safe spaces made for women and girls to share their experiences and develop leadership skills that will help them become changemakers in their communities. The feminist movement in Latin America gets stronger by the day and the number of Girl Up clubs in this region has steadily increased since 2018. 

Webpage: https://girlup.org/voices/the-pink-parliament

 

Challenges in North America

 

Both the US and Canada lag behind on women’s political representation, The US hasn’t had any female leader and Canada was only led by a woman, Avril Campbell, for six months. Nonetheless, there is continuous progress thanks to a number of organizations and government policies. Some examples are the following. 

 

The Canadian Center for women’s empowerment (CCFWE) is a national organization, based in Ottawa, Canada dedicated to empowering domestic violence survivors through advocacy, mentorship, and economic empowerment.

 

To achieve this, they work in the following areas: wellness & self-care, entrepreneurship, advocacy & system change as well as education awareness. They advocate for trauma-informed, survivor-centred, and empowerment approaches to help domestic violence survivors to recover from economic abuse.

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In the US, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity initiative is an effort by the current US government to advance global women’s economic empowerment by reaching 50 million women in the developing world by 2025. According to its website, The W-GDP Initiative aims to enhance opportunities for women to participate meaningfully in the economy and advance both prosperity and national security. W-GDP focuses on three pillars: Women Prospering in the Workforce, Women Succeeding as Entrepreneurs, and Women Enabled in the Economy (White House).

 

Aside from NGOs, governments also have a crucial role to play when it comes to guaranteeing women empowerment. An example of a government that is taking affirmative action to ensure that this goal is achieved is the government of Uruguay. In march 2020 they launched the National Strategy for Gender Equality by 2030. The document analyzes the historical and present processes of inequality suffered by women in the country and proposes a set of aspirations, directives and strategic guidelines, which include the promotion of cultural transformation, the deconstruction of stereotypes. 

Webpage: https://www.gub.uy/ministerio-desarrollo-social/node/1941

 

Additionally, there is much work to be done regarding the empowerment of women tech and STEM. There is a growing number of women-led organizations specializing in the field, and example being Affectiva, a company that aims to humanize technology by building emotionally intelligent machines. The artificial intelligence field is often male-dominated, so it’s crucial that this tool is also taken advantage of by women as well so our future needs are considered.

Webpage: https://www.affectiva.com/

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