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A Detailed Look: Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean is the highest performing region in the 2012 SIGI rankings. Among the top 10 countries in the overall ranking, eight are from the region, and three are at the top of the overall 2012 SIGI rankings: Argentina, Costa Rica and Paraguay. The top performing country in the region is Argentina, while the country with the lowest SIGI ranking in the region is Nicaragua. Latin America and the Caribbean is the top-ranking region for the Restricted Physical Integrity, Restricted Resources and Entitlements and Restricted Civil Liberties sub-index, while also showing a strong performance for Son Bias and Discriminatory Family Code.
Early marriage is declining across the region, although in some countries such as the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Guatemala, over one in four girls aged 15-19 are married. Laws generally provide women equal rights with respect to parental authority and inheritance. The region has made significant progress in the area of violence against women although some obstacles remain. Venezuela has enacted a law prohibiting rape, spousal rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment. In both Costa Rica and Guatemala, femicide and sexual violence are recognised as crimes. Argentina and Mexico have adopted comprehensive laws to prevent, punish and eradicate violence. Still, despite solid progress, there is a need for greater enforcement particularly to address the serious problem of femicide in the region, and the targeting of interventions to reach minority groups such as indigenous women. Furthermore, some countries still need to strengthen laws, for example Bolivia, where a rape perpetrator can escape prosecution by marrying the victim.
Sex-ratio data does not indicate that missing women is a concern in the region and there does not appear to be a fertility preference for boys, based on the share of males as the last child. Laws in the region grant women equal access to land, property and credit although in practice discriminatory social norms continue to restrict women’s access to productive resources. Latin America and the Caribbean has made great progress in improving women’s political participation: the region has the highest share of women in parliament among developing countries, a figure that jumped from 12% in 1997 to 20% in 2011, and there are 12 countries in the region that have election law quotas for national parliaments.
