From global ambition to local reality: Making corporate transition work for people and planet

Aequales was the first organisation in Latin America to bring the feminist discussion into the corporate sector in 2014. Today, it is one of the region’s leading organisations advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in business. Through the PAR Ranking, its flagship measurement and awards initiative, Aequales has assessed more than 2,400 companies across 20 countries, creating one of the region’s largest movements for organisational DEI.

Global ambition must be grounded in local realities

From our experience working with companies across Latin America for more than a decade, credible corporate transition cannot be designed globally and simply replicated across markets. The challenges may be global, but the starting points are deeply local.

Latin America combines high inequality, limited social mobility, large informal economies and uneven institutional capacity. Issues such as gender equality, socioeconomic inclusion, decent work and a just transition therefore look very different here than in Europe or North America. Global commitments can be ambitious and well-intentioned, but ineffective if they fail to account for these realities.

At Aequales, we have seen this firsthand through more than a decade of measuring and working with companies across the region and understanding specific country contexts. Local knowledge helps us understand where the real barriers are, who risks being left behind, and how global ambitions need to be adapted without diluting them.

Ultimately, credibility comes from closing the gap between global commitments and local outcomes. A credible transition is not about applying the same solution everywhere, but about maintaining a common level of ambition while making it relevant, achievable and equitable in each context.

Sustaining progress on DEI requires the right incentives and accountability

The incentives and accountability mechanisms encouraging companies to act on DEI have weakened. We have seen a dramatic shift since the Trump administration in the United States began dismissing and targeting DEI efforts. In this environment, local legislation, sanctions and reputational pressure have become increasingly important for sustaining corporate action on DEI.

Encouragingly, many Latin American companies have maintained their commitment, continuing to measure their performance through Aequales’ PAR Ranking and pursue wider DEI and sustainability efforts.

Our work in Colombia shows how these commitments can translate into practical initiatives. We work with Bancóldex on the design of gender-sensitive financial services and with Bavaria (AB InBev) on a certification aimed at creating local corner stores free from gender-based violence.

Colombia is pushing the gender equality conversation forward

Interestingly, Colombia is one of Latin America’s most advanced countries when it comes to gender equality. We have progressive legislation and relatively high levels of women’s representation in leadership, while conversations that remain contentious elsewhere, including transgender inclusion and masculinities, have become increasingly normalised in corporate settings.

Women leaders across sectors also speak openly about feminism and gender equality, giving these issues significant visibility and legitimacy. We believe Colombia’s long-standing engagement with inequality, combined with the strength and visibility of women’s leadership, has helped push the conversation further and faster than in many other markets.

We see this reflected in our own evidence: Colombian organisations consistently achieve the highest average results in our Latin American PAR Ranking.

The latest edition provides a wider picture of progress and persistent gaps in corporate gender equity, diversity and inclusion across Latin America, offering further insight into how companies across the region are performing and where more progress is needed.