Eight years ago, the IDB tried to illustrate what Latin America and the Caribbean would look like if it was populated by only 100 people. This exercise gave us a perspective on many aspects of the living conditions of the population in the region: from how diverse it is, to the lack of access to basic services that a substantial percentage of it suffers.

We live in an age of massive knowledge. The 21st century offers challenges such as misinformation, cyberbullying, online grooming (online sexual harassment and abuse), and the production of open knowledge, growing at an unstoppable speed.

Today, Women’s Day, we celebrate all initiatives that seek to close gender gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean. From the point of view of early childhood policies, we know that there is abundant evidence on the impacts that child care programs have both on child development and female labor participation in developed countries. However, rigorous evidence for the region is scarce. This brings us to this question: What do we know about the relationship between child care and greater opportunities for women in Latin America and the Caribbean?

Closing the gender gap represents an untapped potential for growth, as well as creating opportunities for women in the region to achieve their full potential in their personal and professional lives.

A few years ago, I wrote an article about the benefits of becoming a mother after the age of 40. Although pregnancy caused significant changes and discomfort, the excitement of my child’s arrival overshadowed those challenges. What I didn’t expect was that, years later, I would again experience intense changes.