Target 3.A of MDG 3 intents to achieve gender equality in primary, secondary, and tertiary education as it considers that by eradicating the differences between genders at all levels of education, it would help improving the condition of women as well as increasing their capabilities, thus significantly contributing to the economic development of the countries.

Indicator 3.1 measures equality of education opportunities as a function of school enrolment/a. Charts show that the countries in the region are achieving eradication of gender differences in all levels of education, particularly women in tertiary education.

According to the gender parity ratio, total national figures do not show major differences with respect to primary education in the region with the exception of Guatemala and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines where the ratio between women to men enrolled in primary school did not exceed 0.96 by 2006.

Nevertheless the favorable situation the countries of the region have in terms of gender parity in education, such equality is not reflected in the participation of women in the labour market where gender gaps persist in different areas related to employment, i.e. wages and salaries (United Nations, 2007/1 ).

The second indicator of MDG3, Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector illuminates the level of openness existing in labor markets for women, in the industrial and services areas. Between 2000 and 2006, in 4 of the 14 countries for which there is information available, there has been a decrease in the share of women with wage employment in the non-agricultural sector. While the rest of the countries have shown favorable trends, which indicates that working women are more integrated in the monetary economy through their participation in both the formal and informal sectors, labor markets of the countries in the region are still very segregated (United Nations, 2007/1 ).

Data shows that in most of the countries the percentage of working women in this type of employment is greater than the percentage of men, thus showing a large heterogeneity among countries. Thus it can be observed that in Honduras, Venezuela, and Dominican Republic the percentage of men employed in labor sectors with low productivity is higher.

Another aspect associated to the opportunities women have in society is their participation in the public and political life of the countries, which is measured by seats held in national parliaments. Taking into account the evolution made from 1990 to 2007, it is possible to state that most of the countries in the region have shown certain level of progress with regard to their initial situation, whereas important differences between the countries persist as was the case with previous indicators. In 65% of the countries seats held by women in national parliaments is not greater than 20% while in countries like Costa Rica, Cuba, and Argentina this percentage amounts to over 35%.

The 2007 Report from United Nations addressing gender equality indicates that the Latin America and the Caribbean region is one of the regions that has the greater proportion of women with seats held in national Congress of national parliaments, and is ranked right below developed regions (United Nations, 2007/1)

Finally, the issue of violence against women needs to be considered in order to have a less limited vision of equality between genders in the countries of the region. By this we refer to violence inflicted by the partner which is one of the most extreme manifestations of gender inequality and is one of the main obstacles for empowering women. Thus, in order to achieve this Goal is fundamental to provide visibility to this issue as to be able to generate effective actions aiming to the eradication of such violence (D. Zapata, 2007/2 ).

As is also stated by Zapata (2007), the Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Sanction, and Eradicate Violence against Women (OAS, 1994) defines gender violence as any act of violence affecting the feminine sex which has, or might have, as a consequence damages or physical, sexual, or psychological suffering, including threats such as acts, coercion, or an arbitrary deprivation of freedom, whether it takes place in public or in private life. The Latin America and the Caribbean region is the only region in the world that has an existing and specific convention for preventing, sanctioning, and eradicating violence. This convention has also been ratified by most of the countries in the region. Domestic violence inflicted by the partner in a couple is one of the most frequent expressions of violence against women, in Latin America where the maximum expression is the murder of the woman (D. Zapata, 2007/2 ).

Table 1 shows the relevance of this problem in some countries of the region where the percentage of women that have suffered from violence reaches 50%, and where physical violence against women is prominent in women with very poor or non-existent education background.