Why an IPG?
Achieving gender equality in the labor market would not only benefit women, and society, but also the economy: it is estimated that closing the economic gender gap could increase the global gross domestic product by $28 trillion by the year 2025.
Accelerating the equal integration of women into the labor force requires both smart public policies and inclusive business practices. The Gender Parity Taskforces (IPG, for its initials in Spanish)—a high-level public-private collaboration model that seeks to support countries interested in reducing the economic gender gap—lie at this intersection. With this objective, the World Economic Forum (WEF) created the Gender Parity Taskforces in 2012. In 2016, the WEF partnered with the IDB to implement these initiatives in Latin America.
In Latin America, IPGs currently operate in Argentina, Chile and Panama, and are under construction in Colombia and Peru.
What do they do?
The IPGs seek to identify and reduce the barriers that prevent women from accessing job opportunities on equal terms. The Initiatives develop and implement three-year actions plans with concrete measures to:
| Increase the participation of women in the labor force | Reduce the gender wage gap | Increase the participation of women in leadership positions |
The IPGs are managed and monitored by a leadership group comprised of representatives at the highest level of the government and private sector, in charge of guiding the process, prioritizing efforts and ensuring the progress of established actions.
The implementation of the Initiative also allows countries and companies to exchange knowledge and experiences among peers and receive continuous technical support, as well as policy advice during the years of execution.
In 2016, Chile launched the first IPG in Latin America, promoted by the Presidency and directed by ComunidadMujer. To date, more than 130 companies have joined the Initiative.
In 2018, the Vice Presidency of Panama launched the Initiative and finalized its action plan with concrete measures for both the public and private sectors.
In 2017, the Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers of Argentina put into effect the implementation of the IPG. The Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth (CIPPEC for its initials in Spanish) and Mercer began the diagnosis to identify the economic gender gap in the country’s labor market.
The Colombian Ministry of Labor, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), IDB Invest, the World Economic Forum and Grupo Éxito launched the Gender Parity Initiative in November 2019. In addition to the Ministry of Labor and its Leadership Group, six public institutions, ten private sector organizations and three union organizations participate in this initiative, with an active core of Strategic Allies from multilateral organizations, NGOs, academia and public and private organizations.
As a strategy to face the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the direct impacts on female employment, Costa Rica launched in September 2020 the Gender Parity Initiative, a high-level public-private collaboration model for reduce economic gender gaps.
The initiative is led by the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the French Development Agency (AFD).