Costa Rica Ranked
Highest In Latin America
Women's Rise
Latin
American women still
trail men in key
measures of social
well-being, according to
the World Economic
Forum, which ranks
gender equality in 116
countries based on
education, health and
economic and political
participation.
Of Latin American
countries, Costa Rica
ranked the highest, 31st
of 116 countries, and
Bolivia, the lowest, at
88th.
But women are steadily
catching up, United
Nations statistics show.
In many instances, the
gaps are closing much
faster than they are in
the United States.
For example, the average
wage of urban Latin
American women has grown
from 70 percent of men's
in 1990 to 90 percent
this year, and they're
expected to reach parity
by 2015, U.N. figures
show. For comparison,
U.S. women earned 77
percent of what men
earned working
full-time, year-round
jobs in 2006.
In the business world,
women make up as much as
35 percent of the
managers in private
companies, also a
dramatic increase from
just a decade ago,
according to the
International Labor
Organization. However,
they still account for
only 10 percent of
company presidents and
vice presidents,
according to a
seven-country survey by
the U.S.-based think
tank the Inter-American
Dialogue.
Women have made some of
their biggest advances
in politics, where
thousands of women are
reaching public office,
many for the first time.
About a quarter of all
Latin American local
council members are
women, more than double
the percentage from a
decade ago.
Women also make up more
than a quarter of the
Cabinet ministers in the
region and more than a
fifth of lower-chamber
national legislators in
Costa Rica, Cuba,
Argentina, Peru, Guyana,
Suriname, Ecuador,
Honduras and Mexico,
double the regional rate
in 1990. By comparison,
only 16 percent of the
U.S. Congress is female. |
|
