Marking International Women’s Day on 8 March, President Pedro Castillo posted on his twitter account that “it is time to settle the historical debt and close the inequality gap towards a fairer country for all female Peruvian citizens.”

Peru has gradually reduced poverty at the national level so far this century. However, it will be no surprise that women still bear the greatest burden. Quoting from a report on Peru by the US Borgen Foundation, “women account for the majority of the population living in extreme poverty.” In 2021, Peru scored 72% in the Gender Gap Index, where a value of 1 would indicate equality with men (in of course an unequal system). The country ranks 63rd out of a total of 156 for which data are given for the gender gap between women and men.

The Global Gender Gap Index was first published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. It is based on the gaps in health, education, economy and political empowerment, and estimates the distance still to travel to achieve equality between men and women. The population-weighted regional score for Europe as a whole (in 2021) was 78%, and for Latin America and the Caribbean, 72%.

At this rate, the report notes, it would take nearly 70 years to close the gender gap. Peru ranks 62, only slightly higher than in 2006 (60), and ranks particularly poorly in relation to criteria of female economic participation and health/survival. In relation to Latin America and the Caribbean, Peru comes in 17th place out of 26 countries at 72.1%, just ahead of Honduras and just behind Bolivia.