Outcome BRA_D_2.1

Policies and strategies of public and private companies and institutions to strengthen women’s economic rights and opportunities are adopted, implemented and monitored.

In 2021, UN Women contributed to changes in institutional performance and behaviour among individuals or groups through the partnerships established focusing on women’s economic empowerment, which were translated into new policies and strategies by public and private companies and institutions. During the reporting year, the Brazil CO enhanced the capacities of FENATRAD, the National Federation of Domestic Workers in Brazil, through a small grant, allowing for different activities to be carried out, such as institutional capacity building, training sessions, among others. One example was the organization of the XII National Congress of Domestic Workers, which brought together 109 union leaders from across the country. The result was the development of a Plano de Luta, a robust and collective action plan for 2022, highlighting the need to defend labor rights, expand formalization and improve access to health, especially mental health, for domestic workers in Brazil, and outlining practical strategies for achieving those goals. Furthermore, the CO engagement with the private sector in 2021 resulted in 38 companies developing their gender action plans with UN Women's direct technical support through the Win-Win programme, which contribute to the promotion of decent work for women, as they provide concrete measures and targets for reaching gender equality in the workplace. Of these, 23 WEPs companies developed their plan in the scope of their participation in one of the two editions of the Target Gender Equality programme, implemented by UN Women in partnership with the UN Global Compact, which also led them to make a public commitment to have 30% of their high-level positions occupied by women by 2025. The CO also supported the 2030 Observatory, an initiative of the Global Compact Brazil Network to support the private sector with data and evidence to strengthen business commitments and actions towards the SDGs and increase the level of ambition of companies' goals in Brazil. The Observatory includes the monitoring of public corporate commitments related to sustainability, and the production of knowledge about the advancement of the Brazilian business sector in the SDGs. In face of the end of Win-Win, and as part of its sustainability strategy, knowledge products (including guides and capacity building modules) on development and implementations of action plans are available online to guide those companies still in the process of elaborating their plans. In 2021, the national response to the mixed influx of Venezuelan nationals became more gender-inclusive and responsive, building on the results of the two-and-a-half-year implementation of the Joint Programme LEAP, led by UN Women in Brazil, in partnership with UNHCR and UNFPA. According to the Report on Good Practices and Lessons Learned on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the Humanitarian Response to the Venezuela/Brazil Migration Flow, the programmes of UN agencies and implementing partners are gender transformative. The Coordination Platform for Refugee and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) – the inter-institutional and inter-agency coordination mechanism – had gender expertise in place to analyse, advise and coordinate efforts to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the humanitarian response. The Brazilian chapter of the 2021 RMRP were improved regarding gender mainstreaming, addressing the specific needs of refugee and migrant women and girls in the process of socioeconomic integration. This is also a result of the engagement by UN Women of 14 Venezuelan women leaders in the R4V planning process for the first time. They contributed to the analysis on gender roles and dynamics, to the identification of women’s socioeconomic needs and strategies to address gender gaps, as well as to engage men and boys for longer-term results. The R4V Platform demonstrated better institutional performance partially attributed to UN Women’s advocacy and technical assistance. With the application of the Gender with Age Marker (GAM) it was observed an increase from 37 per cent in 2020 to 47 per cent in 2021 in planned actions sensitive to both gender and age and an increase from 11 per cent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2021 in targeted actions to reduce discrimination or inequality. 320 professionals from CSOs and UN agencies reported having used UN Women knowledge products to develop new initiatives for refugee and migrant women in their organisations.

Policies and strategies of public and private companies and institutions to strengthen women’s economic rights and opportunities are adopted, implemented and monitored.

In 2022, UN Women contributed to changes in institutional performance and behaviour among individuals or groups through partnerships established with focus on women’s economic empowerment, which translated into new policies and strategies by public and private companies and institutions. In the reporting year, the response to the Venezuelan refugees and migrants’ influx became more gender responsive with the contribution of UN Women. According to the Gender with Age Marker (GAM), 92 per cent of the organizations that compose the Coordination Platform for Refugee and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) developed gender sensitive actions, representing an increase compared to the 80 per cent reported in 2021. Building on the capacities developed in the scope of the Joint Programme Moverse : Economic Empowerment of Refugee and Migrant Women in Brazil, implemented by UN Women in partnership with UNHCR and UNFPA, four civil society organizations and 12 companies developed and initiated the implementation of Action Plans for the economic empowerment of refugee and migrant women, as a result of the technical support offered by UN Women and a public commitment assumed by 15 companies to develop strategies for the socioeconomic inclusion of this population in Brazil. 86 per cent of the companies that developed the action plans adopted strategies to effectively hire and integrate refugee and migrant women into the workspace. 53 per cent of the companies committed to developing communication strategies that represent and empower refugee and migrant women, breaking harmful stereotypes that are frequently associated with them. 33 per cent of companies committed to funding external initiatives for the economic empowerment of refugee and migrant women. Furthermore, UN Women made progress towards establishing a municipal care system in Belém do Pará. The institutional framework of the Belém municipal government became more gender-sensitive to care economy issues as 11 governmental institutions , which are part of the newly created advisory committee of project Ver-o-Cuidado , financed by Open Society Foundations, incorporated actions in their 2023 workplans to contribute to the development of a care system in Belém. This is largely attributed to increased capacities of Belém’s government officials on care economy and public policies, as a result of capacity-building and technical assistance provided by UN Women in 2022 to the government. These institutions are expected to be directly involved in the implementation of activities as well as in the development of the care system. This is strategic as an intersectoral approach to public policy implementation is needed to allow for a care system to be implemented. For the first time since the establishment of Premio Pro-Equidade , a national award that recognizes companies that invest in gender equality, the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights added “integrating refugee and migrant women” as a scoring criterion for the companies applying for the award. This was a result of continuous technical assistance from UN Women. The award is expected to encourage companies to offer decent work, opportunities for career growth and, ultimately, socioeconomic integration to refugee and migrant women in Brazil, based on the principle of leaving no one behind. Also in 2022, the the Happy Child Programme (HCP) continued to be implemented by the Brazilian Ministry of Citizenship, and incorporated a stronger gender component which is expected to contribute to strengthening women's rights. The Ministry included three courses on Violence Against Women, Attention to Pregnant Women and Corresponsibility in Care in the programme’s staff training platform, as a result of enhanced capacities of public sector employees in charge of the management and coordination of the programme on gender equality and gender-responsive social protection strategies. This is attributed to UN Women’s technical support to the Ministry through the Joint SDG Fund Programme. The HCP is a social protection policy that aims to promote the integral development of children in early childhood, having as target audiences pregnant women, children up to 36 months old and their families. Therefore, discussing the gendered aspects of care and the perspective of shared responsibility is strategic for advancing gender equality and contributing for the programme to be more gender responsive.

Policies and strategies of public and private companies and institutions to strengthen women’s economic rights and opportunities are adopted, implemented and monitored.

In 2023, Brazil showed progress in the adoption and implementation of policies and strategies to strengthen women’s economic rights, as a result of public and private companies and institutions enhanced capacities with UN Women’s technical support. The reporting year was marked by great advancements in the development of care policies and strategies in the country. In November 2023, the MERCOSUR countries created the Technical Commission on Care, the first ever intergovernmental fora to discuss and propose care strategies. The commission was created during the 42nd Meeting of Social Development of Mercosur (RMADS), and Brazil had a very protagonist role, while holding the Pro-tempore presidency of the group. It was announced in an international seminar organized in partnership with UN Women Brazil Country Office and aim s to fo ster the commitment of Member St ates to design, implement and monitor care policies in Mercosur. Moreover, the municipal government of Belém is also developing a municipal care system. In 2023, the city started implementing a more gender and care-sensitive approach in their public policies, due to the municipal government increased capacities following participation in UN Women trainings. For example, in December 2023, the government included in their professional training programme the first course to train paid care workers to care for children and elderly people. Furthermore, civil society organizations of Belém are building advocacy strategies to strengthen women’s rights and opportunities. In the reporting year, 16 organizations created the Network of Care Activists of Belém, as a result of their increased capacities on advocacy and care policies. In this context, the development of a municipal care system in Belém with UN Women support was perceived by the Federal Government as a pioneer experience in the country, which created new opportunities for exchanges and collaboration between national and local authorities, such as the development of a collaborative workplan to foster technical exchanges between the two experiences. In addition to the advancements in the care agenda, with the aim of minimizing historical salary inequality, in 2023 the Brazilian Government approved Law No. 14,611/2023, focused on promoting salary equality and establishing remuneration criteria for men and women, a result to which UN Women contributed through its advocacy efforts s. over the past years for equal pay for work of equal value and the reduction of the gender pay gap. This law reinforced the impossibility of distinguishing wages between women and men (which was previously guaranteed by the Consolidation of Labor Laws) and brought new developments in relation to measures that, until then, were not provided for in legislation (such as the establishment of mechanisms for salary transparency and the provision of specific channels for reporting salary discrimination). To ensure the implementation of the law, the government also created an Interministerial Working Group (IWG) to design a National Plan for Equal Pay and Labour Equality for Women and Men, which counts with UN Women technical support. It is expected that the Plan is launched in 2024. In addition to the public sector, the private sector plays a crucial role in implementing strategies to strengthen women's economic rights and empowering all women and girls, especially those who face multiple forms of discrimination, such as refugee and migrant women. In the reporting period, 20 companies implemented action plans for the economic empowerment of refugees and migrants as a result of their enhanced capacities on employability and integration of refugee and migrant women in the workplace with the support of UN Women in partnership with UNHCR and UNFPA, in the scope of the Moverse Joint Programme. These companies have committed to at least one of the following fronts: employability and integration of refugee and migrant women in the workplace, supply chain adapted to integrate refugee and migrant women, corporate social responsibility in support of communities and communication that does not reinforce stereotypes and empowers refugee and migrant women. Also in 2023, three companies adapted their corporate purchasing policies to integrate refugee and migrant women, after consultations with six entrepreneurs. As a result, nine women accessed opportunities to sell their products and services to such companies after the modifications, earning over 31,500 USD. Besides the companies, eleven civil society organizations involved in the Brazilian Government's response to the Venezuelan migration flow implemented action plans for mainstream gender in their programs and initiatives, with special attention to the socioeconomic integration of refugee and migrant women, as a result of their enhanced capacities on gender and economic empowerment. In these organizations there was an average increase of 46 per cent in the number of initiatives aimed at the economic empowerment of refugee and migrant women. Three of these CSOs are refugee and migrant women-led organizations that went through the formalization process in 2023 with the support of UN Women. As a result of the formalization, they were able to receive resources from different sources, including by United Nations agencies involved in the response to the Venezuelan migratory flow in Brazil. Also in the reporting year, the Brazilian Government launched the Second National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (Stage 1) at the Security Council annual open debate on Women, Peace and Security, during Brazil’ presidency of the Security Council, as a result of its enhanced capacities following their participation in UN Women capacity building activities, as well as UN Women advocacy efforts and technical support to the drafting of the document. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs created and coordinated an Interministerial Working Group (IWG) to develop the Plan, also as a result of its increased access to information provided by UN Women through technical meetings, presentations and workshops. The IWG incorporated into the Plan contributions presented by civil society on the women's needs and priorities on this agenda, as a result of their increased knowledge of their demands following their participation in a consultation session held by UN Women Country Office with the support of the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean.