SPECIAL REPORT
WOMEN’S
EMPOWERMENT
AND EQUAL
OPPORTUNITIES
INITIATIVES IN
PARAGUAY
BY FLAVIA RAMOS-MATTOUSSI*
I
was born in Brazil, and for the last 33 years, I have resided
in the United States and traveled to various countries.
In 2015, however, I had a chance to visit the happiest
country on the planet.
The Republic of Paraguay is a landlocked country
known as the heart of South America with borders to Brazil,
Bolivia, and Argentina. A member of MERCOSUR, the
United Nations, and the Organization of American States,
Paraguay is the happiest country in the world with 87 percent
of its seven million inhabitants 1 scoring high on the Positive
Experience Index. 2
My opportunity to visit Paraguay came with the invitation
to evaluate a program sponsored by the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID). The focus of the
“Women’s Leadership Program in Paraguay” (WLPP) was
to provide disadvantaged, indigenous, and rural women
opportunities to enroll in higher education programs in
agricultural sciences. The external evaluation examined
the WLPP initiatives in order to generate knowledge about
how higher education partnerships could contribute to the
promotion of gender equality and female empowerment in
Paraguay. (Ramos-Mattoussi & Caballero, 2015) 3 For the
task at hand, my Paraguayan counterpart, a woman fl uent
in both Spanish and Guaraní, the two offi cial languages of
the country, introduced me to the beautiful Paraguayan land
and culture. We traveled to several rural areas where the
population spoke only Guarani.
Even though the country has a literacy rate of nearly 95
percent, access to higher education remains allusive. One of
the greatest barriers to progress for all Paraguayans is their
education level, particularly for women. Indicators clearly
show that individuals with less schooling have lower incomes
and more health issues. According to a gender assessment
study, “poor women within the lowest quintile, less educated
and Guaraní speaking have on average 4.1 children, though
the national average is about 2.5 and only 2 for women in
the cities.” 4 In Paraguay, women make up a little less than
half of the population, and nearly one-third of households
are female-headed.
Agriculture remains an important sector of Paraguay’s
economy, representing 90 percent of exports and employing
approximately 30 percent of the population (World Bank
Database). Although women’s labor force participation has
increased in the last decade, gender gaps are most evident in
patterns of employment and incomes in rural areas and gender
stereotypes continue to limit women’s access to agricultural
extension and credit. 5
In the face of these challenges, eff orts to increase rural
women’s and men’s equal access to education, agricultural
support services, and laws that enable women’s empowerment
have been implemented by the Government of Paraguay and
civil society organizations.
In 1999, the Government of Paraguay became a
signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and
ratifi ed it in 2001. In addition, the Ministry for Women
(MINMUJER) has implemented the Third National Plan
for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (2008-2017),
1
“World’s Happiest Country? Would You Believe Paraguay?” NBC News. 21 May 2014.
“Global Misery Worst Since Records Began, Poll Finds.” Newsweek. 14 September 2018.
3
Ramos-Mattoussi, F. & Caballero, V. (July 2015). External Evaluation of the Women’s Leadership Program in Paraguay: Evaluation Report. [174 p.] Higher
Education for Development (HED), American Council on Education (ACE). USAID/DEC, Washington, DC. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00KNGF.pdf
4
DevTech Systems, Inc. USAID/Paraguay Gender Assessment (2011). USAID Bur. for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade. Ofc. of Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment. Washington, DC.
5
Ibid.
2
PARAGUAY 2019 • 31