August 7, 2024.- The “II Ministerial Meeting on Empowerment and Economic Autonomy of Women in the Pacific Alliance” was held today in Santiago, Chile, organized by the pro tempore presidency Chile 2024 of the bloc, with the collaboration of the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean – CAF. The activity brought together authorities and representatives from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The opening was attended by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, who highlighted the efforts made by her country in this area, and the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, Claudia Sanhueza, who reaffirmed the importance of sharing good practices among the countries of the region to eliminate the barriers that limit the economic autonomy of women, which is a common challenge in the Pacific Alliance.

This was followed by the panel “Prioritizing the care system for gender equality and sustainable development”, with the participation of Javiera Toro, Minister of Social Development and Family of Chile; Diana María Parra, Coordinator of Feminist Foreign Policy of Colombia; Nadine Gasman, President of the National Women’s Institute of Mexico; and Elba Espinoza, Vice-Minister of Women’s Affairs of Peru. The panel was moderated by CAF’s Gender specialist, Luciana Fainstain.

During the event, the PA authorities gave an account of the different initiatives that are being implemented in their respective countries to address the issue of care and highlighted the main challenges they face in strengthening this system, which has been addressed in a cross-cutting manner, especially in the countries represented in the Pacific Alliance. They also referred to how these policies or initiatives on care contribute to reducing the gap in women’s participation in the economy by favoring their autonomy.

Communications PPT 2024 Pacific Alliance

June 26, 2024.- Yesterday, the webinar “Mainstreaming Gender Equality: Exchange of Good Practices between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Pacific Alliance” was held, organized by the Gender Technical Group (GTG), under the leadership of Mexico, in the framework of the ASEAN-Pacific Alliance Work Plan 2021-2025 and the Roadmap for the Autonomy and Economic Empowerment of Women of the Pacific Alliance

This activity aimed to address good practices, commitments, initiatives and strategies to promote gender equality in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Pacific Alliance (PA) in order to identify challenges and common efforts. More than 90 representatives from technical groups, committees and subcommittees of the PA, ASEAN and the embassies of the four member countries of the Alliance participated in the event.

The inaugural part of the event was attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development of Malaysia, Chua Choon Hwa; the ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for the Socio-Cultural Community, Ekkaphab Phanthavong; Marcela Otero Fuentes, General Director of Multilateral Economic Affairs of Chile’s Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations, representing the Pro Tempore Presidency of the Pacific Alliance; and Elba Espinoza, Vice Minister of Women’s Affairs of Peru, as coordinator of the PA’s Technical Group on Gender.

A representative of ASEAN and the PA presented their progress, good practices and experiences on the topics addressed during the three segments of the webinar: “The importance of sex-disaggregated data to boost women’s economic empowerment”; “An agenda for gender mainstreaming”; and “Inclusive trade, main regional strategies”.

Throughout its three interventions, ASEAN highlighted three main good practices: ASEAN Gender Outlook (2022), a study that provides statistical evidence to promote investment in women and girls in vulnerable situations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the ASEAN Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework (AGMSF) 2022, which seeks to promote gender mainstreaming in the work of ASEAN, as well as in ASEAN member countries. Finally, the ASEAN Comprehensive Framework on Care Economy (2021) and the Declaration on Building a More Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Future (2022) as experiences for the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship.

For its part, the Pacific Alliance highlighted official documents such as the Presidential Declaration on Gender Equality, the Roadmap for Women’s Autonomy and Economic Empowerment, as well as some studies and initiatives that drive the agenda such as the diagnostics “Radiography of the participation of PA women entrepreneurs in foreign trade in the PA (2019)”, “Annex: Impact of COVID-19 on the operations of women-led enterprises in the PA (2021)”, the Survey for Gender Mainstreaming in PA Technical Groups and the Community of Women Entrepreneurs launched in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Gender equality and women’s empowerment is a priority in the agendas of the Pacific Alliance and ASEAN, therefore “cooperation with our allies is crucial, especially in identifying thematic areas where we can work together […] we will continue to advance the gender agenda as a strategy to promote substantive equality”, said Sandra Mendoza Durán, Coordinator of International Affairs of the National Institute of Women of Mexico during the closing remarks of the webinar.

April 28, 2021. – On the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Pacific Alliance (PA) and in follow-up to the recently adopted Presidential Declaration of the Pacific Alliance on Gender Equality[1], and its Roadmap for the autonomy and economic empowerment of women in the PA, the Gender Technical Group (GTG) with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), held this April 28, 2021, the virtual meeting of women entrepreneurs, “Economic empowerment of women in the Pacific Alliance: Challenges in the face of the covid-19 pandemic towards inclusive recovery”.

This meeting was held in order to make visible the importance of identifying the gaps and the effects that the pandemic caused by COVID-19 has generated in women entrepreneurs in the four countries of the bloc, recognizing that it is crucial that the States contemplate an inclusive recovery without leaving anyone behind. The event opened a space for discussion and exchange for women entrepreneurs of the Pacific Alliance with a view to identifying and analyzing the main challenges they face in achieving autonomy and empowerment, as well as developing their export potential, especially under the crisis scenario.

The meeting was attended by more than 200 people, including women entrepreneurs, representatives of the public sector, international organizations, civil society organizations and academia from Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, as well as Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Switzerland and Uruguay.

The inauguration of the meeting was attended by high-level authorities from the Pacific Alliance countries: the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations of Chile, Rodrigo Yáñez, the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of Mexico, Martha Delgado Peralta, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Peru, Diego Llosa Velásquez, as well as, through a video message, by Vice Minister of Foreign Trade of Colombia, Laura Valdivieso Jiménez.

The opening to the panel of women entrepreneurs was moderated by Luz María de la Mora Sánchez, Undersecretary of Foreign Trade of Mexico and headed by Alejandra Villota, Senior Specialist of the Integration and Trade Sector of the IDB, who presented the main findings of the study Impact of COVID-19 on the operations of women-led businesses in the Pacific Alliance, as well as a series of recommendations for the prioritization of tools and policies to support the reactivation of companies led by women in the region.

The study was the product of collaborative work between the IDB and the governments of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru through the Alliance’s Gender Technical Group. Using the ConnectAmericas for Women platform and the AP Women Entrepreneurs Community, a specialized survey was carried out to collect data that allowed to know the impact that COVID-19 and the confinement measures have had on the operation and management of companies led by and/or owned by women in the PA.

Four outstanding businesswomen from the Alliance member countries participated in the panel: Carolina Arce, Cofounder of Impactus Ventures; Roxanna Vergara, Cofounder and Commercial Director of Vendty; Perla Buenrostro, Founder of Bolder Group; and Violeta Quispe, entrepreneur of Artesanía, as well as ECLAC through the Director of the Gender Affairs Division, Ana Güezmes.

During the dialogue, the panelists shared the main obstacles, challenges, as well as strategies to face the effects of the pandemic and gender inequality from their companies. The importance of business access to technology, digitalization, financing and government support, as well as sales channels and international markets was highlighted, also the strategies that governments and the private sector must work together to reduce the differentiated impact on women and women-led businesses. ECLAC shared recommendations and key points that countries should consider to support women’s economic autonomy, taking as a reference its recent Special Report COVID-19 N⁰9: Women’s economic autonomy in sustainable recovery and with equality.

Closing remarks were given by Laura Valdivieso Jiménez, Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Industry and Tourism of Colombia, María José Abud, Undersecretary for Women and Gender Equity of Chile, Nadine Gasman Zylbermann, President of the National Women’s Institute of Mexico, and Grecia Rojas Ortiz, Vice Minister of Women of Peru, who reiterated the support of their governments to move decisively towards the elimination of gender discrimination, through the empowerment of women and girls, as a necessary condition to achieve equitable, prosperous, peaceful and sustainable societies.

[1] https://alianzapacifico.net/download/declaracion-sobre-igualdad-de-genero/