Twenty-one new businesses have agreed to participate in a gender equality and women’s economic empowerment program organized by the Costa Rican National Institute of Women (INAMU, its initials in Spanish) with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The female employment rate in Costa Rica is 39.9 percent, while that of men is 68 percent, based on the Continuous Employment Survey for the first quarter of 2017.

“Women face lower participation rates, higher rates of unemployment, underemployment and informal work, and lower-than-average wages than men. This affects their economic autonomy, their human development, and the effective fulfillment of their rights, so it is important to … implement concrete actions to achieve the women’s empowerment,” said Alejandra Mora, minister of the Status of Women and executive president of INAMU at the International Forum for the Economic Empowerment of Women: Strategic Alliances where the program was unveiled.

The Gender Equality Management program seeks to establish a model of gender equality in companies and organizations in the country that increases competitiveness, and promotes public and private actions and policies to eliminate gender gaps, and increase equal participation and job opportunities for women and men.

Companies in the program will be provided with tools to identify existing gender gaps in their institutions, and establish plans and measures to eliminate them progressively, explained Mora.

Participating businesses and organizations pledge to eliminate gender inequalities in the labor sphere by implementing practices that reconcile work and family life, give greater access to work opportunities, provide equal pay, and instate non-discriminatory practices in the workplace as well as actions to prevent and deal with intrafamily and gender violence, explained Alice Shackelford, United Nations representative to Costa Rica.

Mora emphasized that businesses who commit to gender equality are also giving added value to their company and differentiating themselves in a competitive economy.

Organizations interested in implementing the Gender Equality Management program should write to <[email protected]>.

“The full incorporation of women into the labor market … is the only possible way to build and re-invent stronger and more inclusive economies,” said Minister Mora.

She added that there is an “urgent need for the public and private sectors to develop a comprehensive system of social co-responsibility for care,” which she called a “democratic redistribution of care for children, older adults and other dependents, in which responsibilities are shared between the state, local governments, families, the private sector and the community.”

Participating companies and organizations:

1. Accenture
2. Boston Scientific El Coyol
3. Boston Scientific Heredia
4. Cámara de Comercio de Costa Rica
5. Cenfotec
6. Florida Ice & Farm Company
7. Grupo Empresarial Cooperativo
8. Hotel Costa Rica Marriott
9. Hotel Courtyard by Marriott
10. Hotel Courtyard San José Escazú
11. Hotel Los Sueños Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort
12. Hotel Residence Inn by Marriott San Jose Escazú
13. HP
14. ID Legal
15. Instituto Nacional de Fomento Cooperativo (INFOCOOP)
16. Intensa
17. Junta de Protección Social
18. Platanera Río Sixaola
19. Recope
20. Tabacalera Costarricense
21. VMA Servicios Integrales de Limpieza