Labor

Wage equity. According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), women in Latin America earn salaries 15 percent lower than men for equal tasks. The market’s preference when it comes to hiring men also stands out. From the ILO they point out the need to deepen the current policies. They project that, in the current scenario, these trends will not revert in the short term. In this regard, governments and Legislatives Branches of Latin America began to incorporate into their political agendas new legislations to reduce employment and wage discrimination. It is envisioned that in the medium term, the governments of the region will advance in labor regulations aimed at equality between men and women.

The regional director of the ILO, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, stressed that “the list of tasks to close all these gaps is long and necessarily begins with the need to insist on policies to combat the stereotypes that still prevail in many places of work” .

Regarding the employment rate, the gender difference is also substantial: in women it is 45 percent, while in women it reaches 68 points. Despite this, there is a higher percentage of unemployed women that reached 10 percent in 2017. Thus, despite their lower participation in the working market, half of the 26 million unemployed in the region are women.

In that sense, both Mexico, Argentina and Costa Rica presented bills to guarantee equal pay and the insertion of women in the workplace. In the case of Mexico, a law was passed in February to guarantee the principle of substantive equality between men and women in the field of employment and non-discrimination in job offers and professional promotion.

On the other hand, the Argentine Executive Branch proposed gender equity in labor matters and equal opportunities. The measure promoted by Mauricio Macri also seeks to extend paternity leave to 15 calendar days. In any case, the project does not penalize or fix mechanisms to guarantee its correct application.

In Costa Rica, a project was also presented to establish equal pay for women, both in the private sector and in the public sector.

Next steps

The concern for discrimination between men and women in the workplace is not only a concern of the ILO, but of political parties and multiple social actors in the region. The subject is established in the political and journalistic agenda of the region. It is expected that the congresses of Argentina and Costa Rica will advance in the treatment of these initiatives. It is also expected that other countries of Latin America will begin to legislate on the problem.