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This chapter aims to advance the dialogues between academia and economics on gender gaps in organizations, identifying the progress that has been made in this area in Latin America and the challenges that remain,in accordance with the provisions of the Sustainable Development Agenda. The importance of the academy and its role as facilitator is recognized, so that it is there where policies aimed at reducing gender gaps in organizations can be promoted and advanced, and the opportunity that exists in the academy to contribute to gender equity. Emphasis is made on the contributions made by different Colombian universities, which have included gender equity and the linkage of the UNESCO Chair in favor of equal rights, duties, responsibilities, and opportunities. Finally, the challenges that still exist are recognized and must become a commitment on the part of the organizations, if gender equity in the organizations is really to be achieved.

This chapter presents an overview of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in Colombia and explores its implications in the Pacific Alliance. It is organized into five sections that provide an overview of the fields of social entrepreneurship and social innovation with the aim of sharing experiences that have occurred in the country with the international academic community. It offers a description of the social and economic context of Colombia and then presents the situations that currently serve as the basis of social entrepreneurship and social innovation. It also discusses the main actors that are active in this context. In particular, the chapter emphasizes the experience of the city of Medellín, which is thought to provide an auspicious scenario for the establishment of a business ecosystem based on social entrepreneurship and social innovation. The learnings of Colombia can serve as a relevant example for the countries of the Pacific Alliance that are currently building their social business ecosystems.

This work presents a review of the state of the art of the present century on academic and scientific production in Latin America related to the concept of Social Innovation. The analysis is based on articles published in indexed journals, which makes it possible to understand the existing asymmetry between the conceptual and theoretical veins, of the case studies, as well as of good social innovation practices that have been published in recent years. These debates have in some cases transcended public policies, as well as business and social realities where social innovation is a mechanism and strategy for personal, social, and territorial development. Finally, a Latin American community of researchers and academics around social innovation must be consolidated, who choose to continue building theoretical-empirical bodies following the Latin American reality.

To succeed in acquiring appropriate resources, socially innovative firms must develop social capital, by making connections with traditional partners, such as universities and multinational corporations, and nontraditional partners, such as nongovernmental organizations and the communities in which they work. This study is designed to show the application of social capital through the pursuit of bilateral relationships. In addition, it shows that collaborations are possible among partners – pertaining to social innovative firms. This study begins with a conceptual foundation that is included to define key constructs and propositions. The methodology is a qualitative case study of socially innovative firms in the agriculture industry in Mexico and Colombia. Both case studies show the creation of bilateral alliances with traditional and nontraditional partners to obtain resources. Moreover, the findings suggest that a social firm can unite its partners’ objectives toward social value creation. Having a common ground could trigger multilateral collaborations among the socially innovative firm’s partners to combine, integrate, and leverage the business ecosystem. This chapter provides evidence that today’s social entrepreneurs are willing to use hybrid structures that include for-profit and nonprofit elements to provide a solution for a social issue.

In this chapter, the authors analyze the relationship between academia, organization, and gender in Chile. In particular, the connection between academic practices, management, and hegemonic masculinity throughout the history of Chilean universities. The authors took a critical approach from the field of gender and organizational studies, shedding new light on a longstanding problem: gender-based violence in universities. The authors will discuss how the centrality of management in Chilean universities makes sense in a late and globally connected capitalist scenario, characterized by the introduction of managerialism and business logic in higher education. Consequently, the practice of management acquired a central and hegemonic status that articulates the rest of the academic practices, organizing them not only in terms of the hegemony of management but also in terms of male hegemony.

Inequality of rights, wage gaps, and gender stereotypes are the context in which women in Latin America live, aggravating their situation of poverty. Under this scenario, drug trafficking is presented as a legitimate job offer as an answer to women’s economic needs. Currently, drug trafficking not only categorizes women as merchandise for sexual services but also integrates professional, technical, and logistical services within the criminal structures.

This research follows a qualitative methodology, making a documentary review to identify the role of women in drug trafficking. As partial results, it is evident that women recognize that gender gaps are not solved by their insertion in the drug trafficking economy, because they must perform jobs that put them at greater risk with the authorities, but they do solve an economic need.

This chapter starts with two initial questions: Why, despite the fact that most large companies and organizations have protocols and instances for handling complaints to address gender violence, on many occasions, asymmetric relationships persist and no structural changes are observed in most of them? Can the culture of the environment determine resistance to change within organizations, or are the new processes part of an isomorphic organizational response to environmental pressures? To answer these questions, macroeconomic indicators of development and the gender gap are shown, to later explore the relationship between the construction of gender as a product where multiple variables converge and the gap that exists between women and men in organizations. Regardless of the economic wealth of a country, the incorporation of gender protocols does not always yield positive results. From a neo-institutional theoretical perspective and gender studies, the existence of a structural pressure to align subjects in dichotomous categories is proposed. Added to the visible asymmetries are the invisible costs for women and men: violence, invisibility, and underrepresentation. It is proposed to recognize the cultural conditions and the different degrees of organizational porosity to promote an intervention on three levels: from the subject in the organization; in the organizational field, structure, positions, processes, and products, and through a political praxis.

This chapter presents an analysis of gender equity messages in textbooks and official educational documents in Mexico. For that purpose, critical pedagogy, understood as a framework to dissect power dynamics and gender relations in educational settings, is employed. From the point of view of critical pedagogy, stereotypes and imbalances of power are learned through everyday discourses and narratives and have been shaped by a long history of dominance and suppression; they are part of a system erected precisely to exercise control and limit possibilities particularly of those groups in the margins of society: poor, women, addicts, indigenous peoples, etc. Schools are regarded as spaces where inclusiveness is encouraged but also places where the reproduction of the status quo also occurs; in that sense, schools reflect whatever occurs in society at large, not only the positive cases but the bleak instances as well. Our main intention was to identify and examine books and documents on educational policy, guidelines, contents, or learning outcomes, which have been expressed to promote gender equity and respect for diversity. The idea is to identify whether the content that promotes equity is being communicated or if, on the contrary, gender stereotypes continue to be reinforced, the theme is avoided, or it is not considered relevant. We identified texts (activities and instructions) and images embodying messages connected to gender equity, or inequities, and even discourses that, proactively or by omission, perpetuate the transmission of gender stereotypes. The textbooks of Civic and Ethical Education of the final three grades of primary education are analyzed. A perusal of legal documents and official textbooks suggests that mixed messages that include both explicit statements of equity between binary gender options and implicit messages of superiority and authority attributed to men are somehow transmitted. In particular, the iconography let through implicit messages, probably unintentional but nonetheless powerful, in conveying stereotypes and imbalances of power.

The theoretical context is necessary to understand the process that frames the gender perspective. It must be studied from the pillars of human rights, those that are inherent to the human being and that do not discriminate against age, sex, social status, etc. Being considered Universal, human rights do not contemplate political ideologies, economic systems, or cultural differences; furthermore, as it is irrevocable, it is not possible to delegate or renounce them; human rights are indivisible, that is, they are related and interconnected with each other, but they are formed as a whole. In addition, due to their nature, they are legally enforceable and recognized by the states, therefore, they require respect and compliance.