The Situation of Afro-Descendant Women in Latin America Leonardo Reales Jiménez Ph.D. (c) - Consultant The poverty, exclusion and racial discrimination that Afro-descendant women in Latin America have historically faced are structural problems that should be of concern not only to academics and NGOs interested in women’s rights, but also to governments and international institutions. There is no doubt that economic and social benefits for the region that would accrue from the implementation of strategies to end such problems are far from insignificant. This need is in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals proposed by the UN. The region urgently needs its (excluded) minority women to have equitable access to the education system and health services, as well as to loans and labor markets in order to stimulate social development and the struggle for ethnic and women’s rights. The social and economic situation in countries such as Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Honduras, shows that Afro-descendant women are the poorest of the poor. In fact, most Afro-Latinas live below the poverty line. This situation suggests that there is a socio-political context in which Afro-Latinas suffer permanent violations of their rights, although many public and private institutions in the region tend to disregard the existence of problems affecting Afro-descendant women. My presentation’s main objective is to serve as a reference point in the promotion of women’s rights and ethnic-oriented social programs and projects that aim to improve the situation of Afro-Latinas, focusing on the improvement of the education systems that have been largely-responsible for their systematic exclusion throughout the region.