Chile ’s development in the recent past has defied conventional wisdom. Over the past decade, Chile has made considerable progress in its efforts to reduce poverty, sustain growth, and promote democratization.

 

These advances have been coupled with notable achievements in gender equality. More specifically, Chilean men and women have experienced greater parity in terms of opportunities to services such as education and health, legal rights, as well as political voice. Yet by the same token, Chile has one of the highest levels of inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), a factor that has proven, through international evidence, to impede economic growth and poverty reduction. This inequality has been evident in the workplace, with less than 39 percent female labor force participation, leaving Chile near the bottom of the regional heap. Worldwide evidence indicates that higher female labor force participation translates to greater economic growth. With low participation rates of a large portion of its human resources, this trend suggests that Chile has not fully maximized the potential for its economic success. Understanding and addressing the seeming contradictions in gender equality may serve as an important factor in maintaining continued economic and social development.

 

The National Service for Women (SERNAM, for its Spanish acronym) has served as the cornerstone of the institutional transformation towards gender equality in Chile. Since its creation in 1991, SERNAM has been responsible for ensuring that the public sector takes into consideration women’s interests in the process of planning, budget analysis, design and implementation of policies and programs. Yet beyond the scope of most women’s ministries in the region, the SERNAM has focused on mainstreaming gender issues into the sector ministries, providing critical support in shaping and implementing public policies with a perspective towards gender. Equal Opportunity Plans, developed and coordinated by SERNAM, which set forth medium-to-long term goals and strategies to achieve greater gender equity, helped to place gender as a priority on the public administration agenda.

 

Given this context, Chile has seen a narrowing of the gap in opportunities between men and women. Substantial increases in female school participation have brought levels of enrollment in primary and secondary education of boys and girls to virtual parity. In fact, the educational levels of women in Chile tend to be higher than in other countries in the region. The legal framework also has sought to bring greater equity in the rights of men and women, including recent legislative changes in divorce and child custody settlements, maternal health care, sex crimes, and domestic violence. Women’s participation in the workforce has increased 7 percentage points in the past 20 years. Nonetheless, these advances still have not produced the expected return in terms of enhancing the impact of women on the economic development of the country.

 

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