Introduction
Although there is no globally accepted definition of social enterprises (SE) and other organizations of the social and solidarity economy (SSE), in many of them it is considered a requirement or, at least, tend to be assumed to be democratic from within them, but Can they really be democratic without gender equity? We are convinced that this is not feasible, and the first questions that arise, given the particularities of Latin America, are:
- What has been done to achieve gender equity?
- Where are we today?
- What elements determine the impact of certain initiatives achieve?
- In what areas should emphasis be placed?
This document is a first approach and, in it, we intend to investigate the way in which some SSE organizations in Latin America operate through five Latin American experiences (Chile, Mexico and Peru, presented in alphabetical order) and the use of three categories: for women, from women and with a gender perspective). The selection of these experiences was due to the availability of information, the intent to find examples of these categories, as well as the diversity of aspects or problems addressed, but in no way, pretend to be representative of the thousands of organizations (both formal and informal) present in the region.
Thus, section 1 explains the three categories mentioned; in sections 2 to 6 present a summary of each of these experiences and in 7, a reflection on them. Finally, in the conclusions, we propose some elements to incorporate the gender perspective in SE in Latin America.
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