The United Nations Entity for Gender Equity and Women Empowerment (UN Women), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the European Union (EU), launched a program in Costa Rica to promote economic empowerment among women.

The initiative, called “Win-Win: gender equity is good business”, seeks to strengthen female leadership in businesses, and promote their participation in the workforce.

The program also aims at promoting access to decent work, eliminating the pay gap, enhancing entrepreneurship and economic autonomy.

“It is clear that inclusion and gender equity are a good deal for companies, and it can be observed in trends among consumers, workers, investors and other companies in value chains”, said Regional Director of UN Women for Latin America and the Caribbean, Luiza Carvalho.

The business sector, represented by the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (Uccaep), will be a strategic partner of the program.

The net female participation labour rate in Costa Rica is 46.8%, against the 74.9% male participation rate. Female unemployment is around 12%, higher than the male unemployment rate of 10.6%.

“Having more women leading companies and business organizations is not only important for the gender agenda. There are studies that have proven that gender equity improves profit and productivity”, said Carmen Moreno, director of the ILO Office for Central America, Haiti, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

In addition, the ambassador of the European Union in Costa Rica, Pelayo Castro, pointed out that “with a 9 million euros contribution to this regional program, the EU shows that gender equity is a key item of the foreign policy agenda”.

This initiative is also implemented in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Jamaica and Uruguay.