Gender Imbalances in the Workplace Slowdown Progress in Latin America and the Caribbean | Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD)

The rapid transformation of the new world of work is presenting opportunities for some but profound challenges for others. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a stronger focus on work—leveraging the talents of women and men alike—is needed to contain widening inequalities, says the 2015 Human Development Report, released globally today in Ethiopia, with a regional launch in Uruguay.

The report, ‘Work for Human Development’, promotes sustainability and equitable and decent work for all, through encouraging governments to consider the many kinds of work —such as unpaid care, voluntary or creative work – that are important to human development. The report stresses that only by taking a broader stance on the concept of work can its benefits be truly harnessed for human development.

Through this lens, gender inequalities are starker. According to estimates of the share of all work, not just paid, women perform three out of every four hours of unpaid work worldwide. In Latin America and the Caribbean, since women shoulder the burden of care, the disparities in unpaid work could increase further as the population ages, compounded in the region by gaps in pension coverage.

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