FEATURED

On February 27, the Inter-American Dialogue, in coordination with the League of Women Voters and the International Association of Women Judges, held a conference on "Women and the Rule of Law: A View from the Americas." The event featured seven women judges and other experts from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, who discussed the role of the courts in protecting women's rights, the importance of women's representation in the judiciary, and the role of international law. The group also met with US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pictured above). MORE

ABOUT

The Dialogue's program on women's leadership in the Western Hemisphere explores ways to enhance women's political participaton and better address issues of concern to women within local, national, and international policymaking circles. The Dialogue carries out this work through regular public events, publications, and commentary on women's issues in the region. It also holds larger conferences, such as the upcoming event on the role women in strengthening the rule of law in the hemisphere, to be held in September 2012 in cooperation with the League of Women Voters.

STAFF

Joan Caivano, Deputy to the President/Director of Special Projects
Rachel Schwartz, Program Assistant

For more information, please contact Rachel Schwartz at rschwartz@thedialogue.org or (202) 463-2572.

The Dialogue has carried out its work on women’s leadership under the auspices of the Women’s Leadership Conference of the Americas (WLCA), a hemispheric network of women leaders. The group has worked to assure that women’s concerns are specifically addressed in international forums; to monitor progress that countries are making to address women’s issues; and to hold governments accountable.

 The WLCA was instrumental in getting women's concerns on the agenda of the first Summit of the Americas in Miami. Published as Communiqué to the Presidents of the Americas, the recommendations of the WLCA led to the inclusion of a women's initiative in the summit's final Plan of Action. A second Communiqué was issued before the Santiago Summit in 1999.

 In 2001 prior to the third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada, the WLCA issued a report card, Women and Power in the Americas.

 The Dialogue also monitors women’s leadership beyond electoral politics. The report Women and Global Leadership assesses progress that women have made in international organizations and in national foreign policy agencies. With the Simmons School of Management, the Dialogue published Women on the Verge: Corporate Power in Latin America to document women’s presence in the Latin American business world.

Dialogue Events

8/29/2012 Women’s economic contributions in Latin America and the Caribbean: policy recommendations for equity and growth
World Bank economist Louise Cord presented the most recent report on women, "Smart Economics in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Multiplier Effect on Women’s Economic Power." Argentine economist and fellow at the Center for Global Development, Carola Pessino, and Senior Director for Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation at Vital Voices, Meg Berger, offered comments.

5/1/2012 From Gender Blind to Gender Conscious: A Discussion on Gender Equity in Latin America
World Bank chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Augusto de la Torre discussed the World Bank's recent report “Work & Family: Latin American and Caribbean Women in Search of a New Balance.” The report's author Laura Chioda and Mayra Buvinic, senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation, offered comments.

3/8/2012 Reaching Out to Women: A Conversation with Vanda Pignato
The Inter-American Dialogue held an exchange with El Salvador’s first lady and secretary of social inclusion Vanda Pignato—who discussed Ciudad Mujer, the country’s imaginative approach to providing needed services to women.

11/14/2011 A Conversation with Michelle Bachelet
The Dialogue hosted a discussion with head of UN Women and Dialogue co-chair Michelle Bachelet, who shared her thoughts on how to protect the world's vulnerable populations amid economic crisis.

5/21/2010 Cuba and Gender Equality: Is Progress Being Made? Ilja Luciak, professor and department chair in political science at Virginia Tech and author of Gender and Democracy in Cuba (2009) and Michelle Chase, lecturer in history at Connecticut College and author of a forthcoming book on the role of women and gender in the Cuban Revolution were joined by the Dialogue's Joan Caivano for a discussion on gender equality in Cuba. The event was jointly sponsored by the Dialogue and the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

1/23/2009 Women Leaders in the Peace-Building Process
On Friday, January 23rd, four women leaders from Bolivia and Colombia discussed the role of women in promoting a culture of non-violence and peace-building in the region. The panelists included Juanita Roca, consultant and researcher with the UNIR Bolivia Foundation; Maria Eugenia Rojas, the executive director of the Women's Councilors' Association of Bolivia; Emiliana Bernard, journalist, feminist leader and human rights activist from Colombia; and Evelyn Garrido Rodríguez, a political scientist with the Universidad Javeriana in Colombia.

3/14/08 Women and Justice in the Americas
Supreme Court Justice Elena Highton of Argentina, Minister Priya Devi Manickchand of Guyana, and Cynthia Bendlin of the International Organization for Migration in Paraguay shared their experiences promoting women's rights in such areas as domestic violence, trafficking of women and children, civil and penal code reform, access to justice for women, and mediation.

1/24/08 Addressing Security Challenges in Colombia
Four Colombian women - President of the Senate Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, Senator Marta Lucía Ramírez, Deputy Minister of the Interior María Isabel Nieto, and María Emma Wills of the Historical Memory Commission - analyzed the current political climate in Colombia.

Publications

Women in the Americas: Paths to Political Power. A Report Card on Women in Political Leadership, January 2008. Please click here to read more about the Women in the Americas: Paths to Political Power conference. 
In the press: "Mexico, long lagging in gender equality, nominates first female attorney general," Christian Science Monitor, April 1, 2011.

Women on the Verge: Corporate Power in Latin America. Report of the Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas. April 2005.
   
The statements and conclusions by Latin American women executives cited in this study are drawn from over 120 personal interviews contained in the seven country case studies commissioned for the project.

Women and Global Leadership. Report of the Women's Leadership Conference of the Americas. April 2004.

April 1, 2001: Women and Power in the Americas: A Report Card. April 2001.

Click here for all women's leadership publications.