María Emilia Unda

Peruvian economist leading gender equity reforms in Andean region labor markets

María Emilia Unda (born 1978) is a Peruvian economist whose 2020 report 《Closing the Andean Gender Gap》 exposed systemic discrimination in Latin American labor markets. As founder of EquidadLatam, she pioneered the Gender Equality Index adopted by 7 Andean nations to measure workplace equity. Her 2022 policy framework led to mandatory parental leave reforms in Peru and Colombia, expanding paternal leave from 8 to 12 weeks. In 2023, her coalition secured $450M in international funding for women's entrepreneurship programs through the IDB. Her TEDx talk Reimagining Work for 50% of the Population has become a cornerstone of corporate diversity training. Recent collaborations with ILO produced the Andean Labor Equity Toolkit, now used in Bolivia and Ecuador. Her 2024 book 《Beyond Quotas: Transforming Work Cultures》 challenges traditional corporate structures. As board member of OECD Gender Initiative, she's shaping global policies on caregiver wage gaps. Unda's work is profiled in 《The Guardian》's 2023 series Women Transforming Latin America, and she advises Chile's new Ministry of Gender Equity.