The meeting has been organised in partnership with three Spanish organisations: the International Agency for Development and Cooperation; FETE-UGT, and the Institute for Development and Cooperation. With the theme ‘Mujeres, política y poder’ (Women, power and politics) trade unionists from across the continent met to exchange knowledge and experiences in coordinating and communicating effectively at a regional level. One of the main purposes of the forum was to strengthen the EI Women’s Network and develop new strategies to promote women’s leadership, and increase their access to decision-making positions within unions. In order to do so, participants brought a critically important gender perspective into Latin America’s political, social and economic context. The meeting was opened by Stella Maldonado, General Secretary of the Argentinean union CTERA. Keynote speakers included María Teresa Cabrera from the IEAL Regional Committee; Fatima Da Silva, Vice-President of the IEAL Regional Committee, and Carmen Vieites from the Spanish union, FETE-UGT. The Latin American capacity building initiative also allowed participants to debate key issues prior to EI First World Women’s Conference, which will be held in Bangkok in January 2011. In this respect, one of the issues highlighted was pay equity. EI is actively advocating for equal pay between women and men and has launched the pay equity now! campaign to help education unions overcome gender discrimination in employment. The registration process for the EI World Women’s Conference, ’On the move for equality’ was officially opened on 2 September. Anyone who is interested in participating should consult the conference website for additional information. If you have any further questions please e-mail: women2011@ei-ie.org.