UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equali : Equal Pay International Coalition launched in Panama to reduce pay gap between women and men in Latin America and the Caribbean

Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2018

The Equal Pay International Coalition launch in Latin America and the Caribbean. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Panama

The Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) was launched in Latin America and the Caribbean, to mobilize multiple actors in different countries to reduce the wage gap between women and men, which is around 15 per cent in the region, according to data released at the presentation in the capital of Panama.

'It corresponds to this Coalition the task of articulating policies, promoting and adopting measures and concrete actions to increase the participation of women in the labor market,' said Juan Carlos Varela, President of Panama, during the launch ceremony held in the Ministry of Foreign Relations in Panama City.

'We must guarantee through different mechanisms, including legal instruments, the measures that ensure that men and women have an equal salary,' he added.

The EPIC, promoted by the International Labor Organization (ILO), UN Women and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), was launched globally in September 2017 within the framework of the UN General Assembly.

Since its launch, EPIC seeks to integrate multiple public and private actors with the purpose of contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular Goal 8 and it's target to achieve equal remuneration between women and men for work of equal value by 2030.

Read the full story on UN Women's regional website for Latin America and the Caribbean.