WOMEN’S AUTONOMY AND GENDER EQUALITY AT THE CENTRE OF CLIMATE ACTION IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region in the world in which, for more than four decades, governments, the United Nations system, international organizations, and civil society organizations, particularly women’s and feminist organizations, have met at the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a result of this coordinated work, an in-depth, ambitious, and comprehensive Regional Gender Agenda has been promoted as a roadmap for achieving sustainable development by 2030, closing the gaps in the implementation of gender policies and advancing toward substantive equality and the full guarantee of women’s rights. Cimate change action can either reinforce, exacerbate, or even generate new inequalities, or intentionally aim to overcome them and accelerate the move toward gender equality. As countries and communities examine their policy, physical, economic, and socio-cultural structures in response to climate change, long-standing gender inequalities can be identified and addressed.