‘Women Leaders of Latin America’, an information project to promote a more inclusive democracy in the region

EL PAÍS, the leading newspaper in the world in the Spanish language, and Luminate, a global foundation, have joined forces to create Women Leaders of Latin America, an information project seeking to shed light on the leadership role of women in the strengthening of democracy in the region.

Through this alliance, which is set to be launched in March, EL PAÍS will improve its content in the region and extend the range of its special features, following the launch of América Futura, a project dedicated to informing on sustainable development. In this case, the focal point will be women in leadership roles in Latin America, featuring a monthly interview with a renowned female leader, whose career path sheds light on the difficulties faced by women. There will also be opinion articles and analyses on gender inequality in the region.

“The challenges impacting Latin American democracies are multiple and huge. On various fronts, there are women driving resistance and democratic transformations in order to shape inclusive societies that are more just for everyone. In doing so, they face risks and violence, while bring about significant change. With this project, we want to shed light on their achievements and on the obstacles they face,” says Gabriela Hadid, Director of Luminate for Latin America. “For EL PAÍS, informing about the inequality suffered by women in Latin America is a fundamental pillar of its project in the Americas. It is not only a matter of reporting these instances of injustice, but of highlighting the efforts to end that situation,” says the director of the Americas section of EL PAÍS, Jan Martínez Ahrens.

Luminate is a global foundation working to ensure that everyone – especially those who are underrepresented - has the information, rights and power to influence the decisions that shape society. In Latin America they work in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Their work focuses on increasing the participation and representation of women, LGBTQIA+ people, Afrodescendants and youth in decision-making spaces, the protection of journalists and activists, the strengthening of independent journalism and the fight against misinformation and hate speech in the public debate.

“A legitimate democracy must be an inclusive one. This will only be possible when the civic and political spaces are accessible to everyone, and when we have a public debate that is defined by quality information, diversity, plurality and respect,” explains Felipe Estefan, vice-president of Luminate for Latin America.

This space, which is managed with complete autonomy by the staff writers of EL PAÍS, will also rely on the newspaper’s global network of freelancers, as well as on its technology support. The content, which will be provided for viewers on multiple formats including text and video, will be freely accessible and will abide by the criteria of the Style Guide of EL PAÍS.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition