translated from Spanish: Undersecretary Cuevas: “Without women, the economy will not make the leap to the development we all need”

The Undersecretary of Women and Gender Equity, Carolina Cuevas, led this morning the public-private dialogue in the framework of the APEC Women’s Week held in La Serena where she called to reduce the barriers that I gave they cultivate the integration of women into the economy and stressed the need to move forward on a co-responsibility issue in order to prosper in a more just and equal society.
“We are at a unique moment in history, where women are playing a leading role in the 21st century. In addition to being a matter of justice, it represents a benefit to all. Without women, the economy will not make the leap to the development we all need,” he added.
The meeting was also attended by the President of Sofofa, Bernardo Larraín; AmCham President Sandra Guazzotti and Libby Lyons, Director of Workplace Gender Equality Agency, among others.
For his part, the president of Sofofa noted that “it is an imperative of justice to address the gaps in women’s labor participation and also an economic opportunity. Every 100,000 women who join the labour market, we would have 0.75% growth.”
Larraín also said it is important to have diverse teams in companies, because this helps to “better read the environment and make better decisions”.
The public-private dialogue focused on different strategies, from structural reforms throughout the economy to specific organizational programmes, which both the public and private sectors can adopt to improve women’s access to paid labor market.
APEC Women’s Week is part of the activities leading up to the forum that will bring together the leaders of the bloc on 16 and 17 November 2019 in Chile. APEC is the main forum for promoting growth, technical and economic cooperation, trade and investment facilitation and liberalization in the Asia Pacific region.

Original source in Spanish