The new right-wing governments in Latin America have made a political handling of the gender agenda, but have not yet managed to make setbacks in access to basic rights for women, María Noel Baeza, regional director for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women, told EFE on Thursday.

“There are many screams, there are many political uses of the gender agenda, but I do not see yet – and I hope not to see it -, that legislative setback,” he said in an interview during a visit to Guadalajara (western Mexico).

He recalled that there have been effects on public policies in countries such as Argentina, with the government of Javier Milei, who eliminated the Ministry of Women and threw back the adolescent pregnancy prevention program, but at the legislative level this and other governments have not been able to close rights already achieved.

The UN official said that there is an organized force of women who are fighting from different countries to resist this rise of conservative sectors.

“As long as the legislative powers do not begin to change the laws, there it would be… there they find us (women) organized and in the street, activists. I hope that doesn’t come, because luckily governments last four years, so that’s changing,” he warned.

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Noel Baeza pointed out that in the region there is an interest in advancing issues such as violence, sexual and reproductive rights, access to public and business governance spaces, to respond to the Beijing Platform for Action that 30 years ago laid the foundations for gender equality in the world.

He recalled that through reports managed by the Secretariat of the UN Commission on the Legal and Economic Status of Women, 160 countries are making progress in the challenges posed in terms of education, work or the eradication of violence.

“It was massive, it was impressive. No one wanted to be left behind in reporting, and positively reporting what they are doing. Which translates into positive votes, and is a very important indication that they are moving forward,” he said.

Noel Baeza participates in the VII Ibero-American Summit of Local Gender Agendas and the XV Ibero-American Congress of Municipalists that takes place in Guadalajara until May 30.

The representative of UN Women referred to the fact that Mexico has a president for the first time as an opportunity for there to be substantive changes in public policies focused on girls, adolescents and adults.

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“When women enter politics, politics change. That is a very, very very said phrase many times, but it is true. A woman who is in politics begins by changing the reality of what equality means,” he said.

She praised the efforts of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to put women’s rights as a central part not only in public policies, but with budget and concrete actions, which profiles her as a leader in the region.

“All the women in the region are looking at Mexico and we are looking at her to support her in what we can. I think she will try to pay off that debt and of course the most difficult thing will be cultural change to avoid violence,” he concluded.