Latin America: regional and national challenges

Gisela Zaremberg

Chapter 27 in Research Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming, 2026, pp 364-375 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the advances and persistent challenges of gender mainstreaming (GM) in Latin America, focusing on the interplay between international frameworks, state institutions and feminist movements. It highlights the crucial role of mechanisms for the advancement of women (MAMs). Regional organizations—particularly the Organization of American States, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and UN Women—have provided strong normative and technical frameworks, supporting legislative reforms and judicial advances on violence, care policies and reproductive rights. However, implementation remains uneven due to weak state capacities, instability in civil service careers and growing conservative backlash against so-called “gender ideology.” The analysis is organized around three metaphors used in GM debates: insiders versus outsiders, center versus margins, and silences versus voices. The chapter concludes that while Latin America has made significant progress in institutionalizing GM, ongoing challenges remain. Hybrid approaches combining mainstreaming with affirmative or compensatory actions emerge as possible, though uncertain, pathways toward deeper gender equality.

Keywords: Latin America; Feminist Movements; Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women; Intersectionality; State Capacity; Anti-gender Conservatism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035353415
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