Women in law
Despite Latin America’s deep ‘cultural institution’, which has led to gender bias at both work and at home, GC finds that, with the help of conglomerate investment and the #MeToo movement, women in the legal profession are increasingly able to break barriers and question their role with the workplace.
As a region, Latin America accounts for a 22% share of all lawyers globally, and an estimated 33% share of female lawyers globally. Despite this, just 25% of top management roles are occupied by women, and those in top management roles earn just 60% of that paid to their male counterparts. In Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, women earn between 49 and 68 cents for every dollar that men earn in the same or similar roles.
Disappointingly, this is in step with much of the rest of the world. According to a 2019 report published by the World Bank, just six countries globally achieved a perfect score in gender equality, which means that the law in each of those countries treats men and women equally in every dimension measured by the research. The report covered 190 countries.
