PICIS FOUNDATION/FONDO PICIS
The PICIS Foundation is our vehicle to promote the sustainability and autonomy of feminist organizations and their leadership.
Latin America is the most unequal Region in the World
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the (sub) Continent with the highest level of inequality globally. The economic and social models adopted sustain deep structural disparities that have fostered high poverty levels, access to primary and quality education and health services, and real democratic and citizen participation.
According to the InterAmerican Development Bank [1], income inequality in Latin America is higher than in other regions. For example:
In 2019, the 10% of people with the greatest economic power earned 22 times more than the poorest 10%; Women earn 87 cents for every dollar earned by a man; and Afro-descendant and Indigenous men, adjusted for their level of education, have salaries of 17 and 27 percent respectively. That is, lower than the rest of the population.
Access to and quality of education remain significant issues. Meanwhile, the wealthiest individuals invest 25% more than the poor in education.
Other significant data to assess the future of work in LAC from the analysis of unequal relations:
50% of people in LAC do not have access to the internet, this factor represents the fall in the participation of boys and girls in the public sector due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
In active labor participation due to the pandemic has further deepened these levels of inequality.
According to the World Bank, LAC will lose 25 million jobs as a result of the virus that caused COVID-19.[2]
These models that promote inequality have also destroyed ecosystems that support productive life and environmental processes; violence, and gender-based violence, femicide, high levels of corruption, migration, unemployment, and increased anxiety and attention to mental health status, the impossibility of acquiring technologies that support access to education, or neglected disabilities.
We are committed to promoting and influencing the adoption of alternative models based on cooperation, inclusion, and solidarity.
[1] ¨The Crisis of Inequality: Latin America and the Caribbean at the Crossroads¨. Report. Publication and Presentation (virtual), September 11, 2020. [2] “The social contract of Latin America is fractured, says IDB on inequality in Latin America´´. Infobae.com. September, 2020
