Prosperity

COVID-19 Recovery 

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing structural inequalities, including gender inequalities at a global and regional level. The unequal distribution of care responsibilities, women's limited access to employment and social protection, and the gender digital divide and increased violence against women are just some of the gender inequalities that were exacerbated during the crisis.

UNDP continues to work to ensure that recovery policies are gender transformative, a prerequisite for getting back on the path to true sustainable development that leaves no one behind.

Learn more about this initiative here.

Learn more about the Gender Tracker here.

The labour market 

Within the framework of the transformations resulting from the fourth industrial revolution and the transition to fair, green and sustainable labor markets, new forms of work have emerged that often represent a challenge for countries due to some of their associated characteristics: high levels of informality, labor flexibility, teleworking and persistent inequalities in the labor market derived from the sexual division of labor.

Overcoming the growing inequalities in the labor market requires the implementation of new employment policies that include among their objectives the development of women in the labor market, under conditions of equal treatment and opportunities with men, as well as strengthening the access, permanence, and promotion of women in the labor market.

SMES 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a significant decline in women's economic inclusion and entrepreneurial opportunities.[1] The World Economic Forum in its 14th report estimates that it will take 135.6 years to achieve gender parity; instead of the 99 years it had projected in 2019, the year before the pandemic. 

This disproportionate effect of the pandemic on women is associated with an overrepresentation of women in the economic sectors that experienced the highest rates of recession: service businesses such as health care, education, food services, real estate, tourism, and retail trade. Similarly, the pandemic affected women's ability to run a business and/or be employed as they continue to be the main caregivers in the care economy (caring for children, the disabled, the elderly).

UNDP is therefore focusing its efforts on building gender-sensitive business ecosystems with a value chain perspective that support women-owned MSMEs at all stages of development and in all sectors, including rural areas. This through the SDG Gender Transformative Value Chain and the Gender Equality Seal for the Private Sector.  

[1] GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR (2021), FOUND THAT WOMEN WERE 20% MORE LIKELY THAN MEN TO REPORT BUSINESS CLOSURES DUE TO THE PANDEMIC AND NEARLY HALF OF ALL WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS IN HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES REPORTED CLOSURES.

Highlights:

Gender Equality Seal in the Private Sector.

The private sector plays a key role in the fight against gender inequalities in the world of work.  The Seal of Gender Equality in the Private Sector, pioneered in Latin America since 2009 with UNDP support, is an innovative program that engages the private sector to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the world of work. 

With the support of governments, the program has been implemented in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Eastern Europe. Of these, 14 programs are active in the region and more than 1,900 branches and business units have been certified.  This represents an impact on more than 1.5 million workers in various sectors such as telecommunications, energy, agriculture and more. 

UNDP also develops several spaces for exchange and innovation for equality such as the Business Forums for Gender Equality and facilitates meeting spaces for governments, companies, and trade unions such as the Community of Practice of the Gender Equality Seal in the Private Sector. 

Learn more about this initiative here.

DELGEN

Gender inequalities are accentuated in local settings and rural environments due to structural barriers that are exacerbated by discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, professional status, migrant status, disability, etc. In order to address inequalities in local and rural settings efficiently, socioeconomic policies must include a comprehensive approach that implies greater inclusion and equality.

With this purpose, UNDP launched in 2016 the DELGEN Initiative - Local Economic Development and Gender - for the Latin America and Caribbean region, with a consortium of 6 regional and global organizations that aim to promote a scaling up of the Local Economic Development model.