Women in the Labor Force in South America
Population
- In 2007, women were approximately half of the population in South America.1
Labor Force
Management
- One study from 2005 found that 64% of the 100 largest publicly-listed companies in Latin America do not have any women on their board of directors.3
Educational Achievement
*Data is for most current year available, which is: 2008 for Colombia and Guyana; 2007 for Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador; and 2008 for Argentina. Data for other countries was either not available or too old to be properly compared.
Economic and Political Participation
The Global Gender Gap Index is measured by the World Economic Forum. In 2008 it ranked 130 countries on the size of their gender gap between women and men in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. The lower the number, the smaller the gap is between women and men.5
SOURCES
1 World Bank, GenderStats.
2 ILO, LaborSta.
3 Corporate Women Directors International, 2005 Report: Latin Trade 100:"Women Board Directors of the Latin Trade 100 Companies."
4 The World Bank Group, "Girls Graduate Share, Tertiary Degrees," Ed Stats: Data Query.
5 World Economic Forum, "The Global Gender Gap Report of 2008" (2008).
6 Inter-Parliamentary Union, "Women in National Parliaments" (October 31, 2009).
UPDATED January 13, 2010
