IACHR: States must ensure gender-sensitive development for all women, girls, and adolescents

November 26, 2025

Washington, DC—On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) call on States to redouble their efforts to reduce multidimensional poverty and gender gaps in the exercise of women's economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights.

According to ECLAC data, 27.4% of women live in multidimensional poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2023, for every 100 men in households living in poverty, there were 121 women. This is known as the feminization of poverty and is linked to lack of access to and control over resources, discrimination in the exercise of rights—such as health, education, and work—and the overload of unpaid domestic and care work, factors that increase women's exposure to gender-based violence.

In North America, women also have higher levels of poverty and lower incomes than men, and in particular women and girls from historically marginalised and discriminated groupings, highlighting persistent structural gaps and deficits in disaggregated multidimensional measurement. These gaps widen when natural disasters like hurricanes, devastate infrastructure and disrupt livelihoods.

However, some states have made regulatory progress. At least eight states have passed laws creating national care systems or policies aimed at reducing these feminized responsibilities. Also noteworthy are comprehensive frameworks to prevent, punish, and eradicate gender-based violence, expanded access to education, and, in some countries, increased participation of women in politics.

For its part, the Inter-American Court has emphasized that the unequal distribution of care work based on negative stereotypes and sociocultural patterns constitutes a structural obstacle to the equal exercise of the rights to work, social security, and education.

Women's physical, economic, and reproductive autonomy is essential for the full exercise of their human rights. However, poverty, discrimination, and gender-based violence severely limit their autonomy and development.

The Convention of Belém do Pará recognizes that eliminating violence against women is an indispensable condition for their individual and social development and their equal participation in all spheres of life. In this regard, States must eliminate the barriers that prevent the development of their capacities and the realization of their life projects.

The IACHR and REDESCA urge States to design and implement comprehensive and sustainable public policies in economic, social, cultural, and environmental matters that produce real improvements in women's lives. These policies must incorporate an egalitarian, intersectional, and intercultural approach that responds to the differentiated challenges faced by women in all their diversity. Likewise, they urge the strengthening of measures to prevent discrimination and violence, guaranteeing autonomy and the right to a dignified life. In addition, international cooperation is also needed to address the effects of natural disasters which have a gender differentiated impact on women and girls, including increased risks of sexual violence and loss of employment.

The Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights is an office created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) with the aim of strengthening the promotion and protection of economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in the Americas, leading the Commission's efforts in this area.

The IACHR is a principal and autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose mandate stems from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote the observance and defense of human rights in the region and acts as an advisory body to the OAS on the matter. The IACHR is made up of seven independent members who are elected by the OAS General Assembly in their personal capacity, and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 243/25

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