According to a study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), women in Latin America and the Caribbean still make up a small minority of senior decision-makers in national governments, and the majority of the leadership positions they do hold are in a small number of specialized fields like health and education.
Despite making up 52% of the total government workforce, women only hold 23.6% of the top positions, which are equivalent to ministerial positions, according to a study titled “Women Leaders in the Public Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean” that was based on data from 15 countries in the region.
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Women hold 44.2% of director-equivalent posts, which shows that this inequality still exists at lower levels, but to a smaller extent.
Susana Cordeiro Guerra, the manager of Institutions for Development at the IDB stated, “the region’s public sector needs a more ambitious gender equality agenda to leverage female talent for development.”
“Several studies confirm that when women hold leadership positions in government, it brings many economic benefits and furthers additional goals of service coverage, as well as efficiency and efficacy,” she remarked.
In the 12 government organizations considered for the research, women hold an average of 41.4% of the leadership posts.
Even in nations where the proportion of female leaders is higher, vertical segregation—where women do not advance to leadership roles—and horizontal segregation—where women only succeed in the top positions in industries linked with conventional gender stereotypes—remain. Women are more prevalent in historically female-dominated industries like education and health (45.4%), whereas involvement in traditionally male-dominated industries like finance and defense is substantially lower (38.1 percent).
The report makes three recommendations for improving the representation of women in leadership roles.
By establishing precise and quantifiable gender objectives and developing strategic selection procedures, the first step is to remove obstacles to formal parity in positions of decision-making.
The second is to improve institutional capacities so that gender policies may be incorporated into all facets of the public sector and that human resource management will be gender-based.
In order to facilitate continuous monitoring and improved decision-making, the research concludes by urging the quarterly publication of disaggregated data on the presence of women in public-sector leadership positions.
The information utilized in this study’s first edition was gathered between December 2021 and March 2022.
Based on a mix of responses from the 15 nations, secondary sources, and expert discussions, particularly with regard to budgetary issues, the data from the 15 countries were examined at the national level. The report also includes a review of the regional 26 IDB member nations’ legislative frameworks.
