Global Women Leaders Debate Challenges and Opportunities for Gender Equality in LatAm

New York, March 13, 2025 — On the sidelines of the UN’s 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69), women leaders from the public, private, and civil society sectors analyzed solutions to advance the gender equality agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The event, held on March 12 at the Council of the Americas headquarters in New York, featured the participation of Cindy Quesada, minister of Women’s Affairs of Costa Rica; Ana Baiardi, manager of Gender, Inclusion, and Diversity for CAF; and Susana García-Robles, managing partner at Capria Ventures. The leaders spoke on a panel moderated by Guadalupe Aguirre, CAF’s gender coordinator.

Facing global gender equality challenges, the discussion pushed to strengthen public-private partnerships to accelerate the equality goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and propose solutions to ensure more women-led decision-making spaces.

"One of the biggest challenges we face regarding gender equality in the region is getting more women into leadership positions, particularly in the private sector," said Susan Segal, president and CEO of the Council of the Americas, who gave the welcome remarks for the event. "Conversations like this help shed light on this issue and address it jointly between governments and the private sector."

"In a global context marked by challenges in gender equality, it is essential to strengthen spaces for dialogue and collaboration between leaders and organizations committed to the development and empowerment of women. With this event, we are creating spaces for reflection and action to explore new strategies and strengthen alliances between the state, private sector, and society that will allow us to advance the gender equality agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean," said Baiardi.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted by the United Nations in 1995, urges governments, the private sector, and civil society to ensure greater representation of women in leadership positions. According to GEM's 2023 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, Latin America and the Caribbean stands out as the region with the highest female entrepreneurship rate globally, with 21.2 percent of startups led by women and 33.3 percent entrepreneurial intention. However, the region also has the lowest rate of established businesses led by women, with only 4.7 percent.

COA and CAF’s event highlighted that strengthening these ecosystems not only represents a need for social justice, but also an opportunity for economic and social development.

About COA:

Council of the Americas (COA) is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law, and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council's membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology, and transportation.

About CAF:

The mission of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean - is to promote sustainable development and regional integration through the financing of projects in the public and private sectors, the provision of technical cooperation, and other specialized services. Founded in 1970, the Bank has 22 shareholder countries: 20 from Latin America and the Caribbean, along with Spain and Portugal, and 13 private banks. CAF is one of the main sources of multilateral financing and an important generator of knowledge for the region. For more information, visit www.caf.com.

Contact for press:

COA: Claudia Torrens, mediarelations@as-coa.org 

CAF: Robert Valls, rvalls@caf.com