Leading and Caring: GWL Voices at the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean
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Fifty years after the first World Conference on Women was held in Mexico once again became the stage for a historic conversation. From August 12–15, 2025, governments, activists, Indigenous leaders, and international organizations gathered for the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The meeting culminated in the Acuerdo de Tlatelolco (Tlatelolco Commitment), a forward-looking agenda for gender equality, women’s rights, and feminist multilateralism.
Amid this milestone, GWL Voices convened the high-level side event “Leading and Caring: Towards a Care Economy that is Fair for Women and Mother Earth”, co-sponsored by the Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC) with the support of UN Women LAC.
The gathering brought together an extraordinary panel of women leaders: Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa, Executive Director of GWL Voices and former President of the UN General Assembly; Ms. Epsy Campbell, Member of GWL Voices and former Vice President of Costa Rica; Ms. Grace Nogales Haro, Advisor to the Executive Secretariat of RedLAC; Ms. Dalí Angel, Coordinator at FILAC; Ms. Otilia Lux de Cotí, Advisor to MILAC and former Vice President of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues; and Ms. Gabriela Rosero, Head of UN Women Chile. In addition, GWL Voices member and former President of Chile, Ms. Michelle Bachelet also attended the Regional Conference.
Transforming the Care Economy
Discussions centered on how the care economy can become a driver of equality, sustainability, and dignity in Latin America and the Caribbean. The panelists agreed on the urgent need to recognize, professionalize, and redistribute care work, while also integrating the leadership and ancestral knowledge of Indigenous, rural, and Afro-descendant women.
The dialogue underscored the deep interconnection between care and climate change: caring for people cannot be separated from caring for the ecosystems that sustain life. Promoting sustainable practices, ensuring equitable access to resources such as water and land, and valuing traditional ecological knowledge are essential steps to address both the care crisis and the climate crisis.
As María Fernanda Espinosa put it:
Prioritizing the sustainability of life over the accumulation of capital is a precondition for achieving collective well-being and advancing toward a more just and sustainable society.
And as Epsy Campbell reminded us:
We aspire to a new social pact, where everyone has the same seat—not one bigger and another smaller—but a new pact among women, men, and communities. Yet we can start with the pact of women, and the great challenge we face is not only to resist, but to remain as midwives bringing forth a creation that guarantees dignity and justice. We can make that pact among diverse women, one that recognizes that some have been further behind than others, that acknowledges rural communities and indigenous peoples, that recognizes the role of Afro-descendant women. Because when you are at the base, and when we all rise together, the whole world rises.
Reimagining Cities as Caregivers: Local Leadership in Action
Preceding the regional conference, the Forum of Care and Transformational Cities, hosted by the City of Mexico and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) started the conversation on care. Here, the focus shifted to local realities and the transformative role cities play in creating care-centered societies.
María Noel Baeza, Representative of UN Women LAC, highlighted the importance of institutional mechanisms and strategic investment: “The systems of care need mechanisms for institutional and state implementation. Care is here to stay—it must have constitutional recognition, public financing, and technological support that avoids reproducing stereotypes.”
Meanwhile, Clara Brugada Molina, Head of the Mexico City Government, traced the roots of women’s rights from the 1975 World Conference on Women to today: “We cannot advance women’s rights or build a care society without the protagonism of cities and local governments. Care must have a territorial and community focus because regional governments have the capacity to make it work every day.”
Panels examined the economics of care at the local level. Speakers like Inés González Nicolás (Mexico City) and Karina Delfino Mussa (Quinta Normal, Chile) stressed that care work is not merely private—it is structural, shaping inequality and limiting women’s professional development. Municipalities and local governments, often the first and only point of contact for citizens, play a pivotal role in implementing policies that recognize care as a public good.
Women’s Leadership and Representation
These events echoed the broader call of the Conference: women’s leadership must be at the center of global governance. From parliaments to multilateral institutions, women’s representation is not just a matter of fairness but of effectiveness.
The Tlatelolco Commitment itself makes this explicit in paragraph 77, where governments of the region reaffirmed their commitment to gender parity in the highest positions of the United Nations system — including the office of Secretary-General — with a view to ensuring that, for the first time in history, it be held by a woman:
Reiterate the commitment to gender parity in the most senior positions of the United Nations system, including that of Secretary-General, with a view to its being held, for the first time in history, by a woman, in line with the principle of equitable geographical representation, Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations and the representation of women from Latin America and the Caribbean, and underscore the region’s role in promoting gender equality in the multilateral system.
For GWL Voices, this is a powerful acknowledgment of a reality that can no longer be ignored: despite eight decades of history, the United Nations has never had a woman Secretary-General. GWL Voices work continues to challenge that imbalance, making the case for women’s leadership in politics, multilateralism, and local governance.
A Call to Action
The events concluded with a call to States, parliaments, feminist movements, Indigenous peoples, and the private sector: build alliances that accelerate the transition toward a care-centered society. Placing care at the heart of public policies is not only about justice for women — it is about ensuring sustainability, resilience, and collective well-being for all.
The message from Mexico City is clear: transforming the care economy and strengthening women’s leadership are inseparable goals. Together, they chart the path toward a gender-equal multilateralism capable of addressing the intertwined crises of inequality, climate change, and democracy.