In honour of the observance of International Women’s Day 2021, the Mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, spoke at the panel on “Women’s Leadership in and for Health: accelerating gender equality in the context of Covid-19” organized by the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO)/ World Health Organization (WHO).
The panel was moderated by Catharina Cuellar, Advisor on Gender and Health (PAHO). Mayor Lopez participated in the panel along with Alejandra Mora, Executive Secretary for the the Inter-American Commission of Women at the Organization of American States (OAS), and Dr. Julio Frenk, President of the University of Miami. Alternatives to achieve greater gender equality and to empower women to have a more active participation in sustainable development and public health.
Mayor López spoke about her experience in leading the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bogotá, and the crucial role that local mayors have played in tackling major challenges and placing the care of its citizens at the center of the response:"Solidarity and teamwork proved crucial in handling this pandemic. Women in international organizations, in local governments and in national governments led the response to protect life".
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Mayor Lopez also spoke about the abrupt negative economic and social effects of the pandemic, and how these have affected women in a greater extent: "The four main strategies implemented in Bogotá implementing a cross-cutting gender approach have been basic income, we are the only city in Colombia that implemented a basic income strategy so that the poorest households, most of which are headed by women, did not struggle with hunger. We also strengthened the hospital system, ensuring that all people who require access to health services may access them without barriers. We implemented the District Care System, to recognize, reduce and redistribute the burden of care inside the household, most of which falls on women; and specific policies to save jobs for young people and women as well as to protect small business".
Mayor Lopez also advocated the importance of working together to strengthen women’s representation and their visibility in leadership and decision making. She ended her intervention by stressing on the importance of scientific research in healthcare,"Something that the pandemic should leave Colombia and Latin America is the capacity to return to having a robust health system, scientific research and biotechnological capacity to produce vaccines. We want to unite, to come together to put forward a proposal so that, like Argentina, Brazil and Mexico who have already established alliances, Bogotá may participate in this production schemes; we must invest in science and in women in science".
Bogotá actively participates in these international scenarios with the objective of making visible the policies being implemented by the government administration to achieve gender equity and to support the central and essential role of women in the response to the pandemic, ensuring that all public policies designed and implemented in the city promote gender equality and the effective enjoyment of women’s rights.
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