Gloria Reyes assumes the Ministry of Women and places equality as the basis of democracy

Santo Domingo,.– Upon assuming office as Minister of Women, Gloria Reyes stated that gender equality should be understood as a matter of State and as a structural condition for the development, social cohesion and democratic stability of the country.

During her inauguration, Reyes defined this new stage as a process of continuity and deepening of public policies of equality, and highlighted her commitment to lead a management oriented towards results, inter-institutional dialogue, and the transformation of gender gaps that persist in the Dominican Republic.

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In that context, she expressly recognized the work of Mayra Jiménez, to whom she attributed the strengthening of the Ministry’s leading role, the advances in the legal framework and in violence prevention services, as well as the positioning of the care agenda as a key public policy.

“Equality is not a slogan, it is an indispensable condition for development, social cohesion and the democratic stability of the country,” stated the new minister, who assured that she comes to the institution with the experience accumulated from the National Congress, different areas of public service and, more recently, from the social protection policy.

Reyes underscored the progress made by the Dominican Republic in social matters, citing data from ECLAC and the World Bank that show the sustained reduction of poverty, the decrease in extreme poverty, and one of the lowest inequality indices in Latin America. However, he warned that gender gaps continue to be one of the main obstacles to consolidating that development.

“These advances do not automatically translate into equal opportunities. Women continue to have lower incomes, higher levels of informality, and a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work,” she noted, emphasizing that poverty continues to affect women and girls to a greater extent.

In that sense, he affirmed that social policy should be consolidated as a policy of equality, with the aim of addressing the structural causes of inequality.

“When a woman is left behind, the whole country stops,” she expressed.

The minister indicated that her management will be guided by clear priorities: care as a public policy, the economic autonomy of women, the prevention and effective attention to gender violence, and the strengthening of female leadership from the territories and from the State, as a condition for a more representative and just democracy. Likewise, she reaffirmed her commitment to women’s rights, recalling her participation as a legislator in the approval of Law 1-21, which eliminated child marriage, as well as her promotion of reforms aimed at political parity.

“Women’s rights are not negotiable; they are obligations of the State,” she pointed out.

Gloria Reyes called on the Ministry’s technical team, women’s organizations, the feminist movement, various social sectors, and the general public to embrace equality as a common cause.

“Defending women’s rights doesn’t divide, it builds a country,” she stated.

Finally, she thanked President Luis Abinader for his trust and assured that she assumes the leadership of the Ministry of Women with the determination to consolidate equality as a transversal axis of sustainable development, social cohesion, and Dominican democracy.