On Sunday, a march was held in the Panamanian capital to mark International Women's Day. Participants denounced the precariousness or informality of labor and the lack of decent working conditions faced by Panamanian women, while also demanding an end to macho violence and femicide. The march, which started at the central Parque Urracá and traveled along the tourist Cinta Costera waterfront bordering the Bay of Panama, besides the labor issue, also made visible on banners and signs demands for the protection of childhood, the inclusion of women with disabilities, and respect for indigenous peoples, among others. For Luisa Fuentes, president of the Women's Committee of Convergence Sindical and one of the organizers of the walk, «it has not been easy» for many years of women's struggle for their rights: «We have conquered rights, but working women continue to go through the same thing today.» According to official figures released this month by the Comptroller General, the unemployment rate in Panama stands at 10.4%, an increase from the 9.5% recorded until October 2024, the previous measurement. The official information did not specify the informality rate, which for October 2024 was 49.3%, and by gender distribution, men registered a slight decrease in the informal employment rate, going from 48.6% to 47.6%, while women remained unchanged at 46.6%. The latest Comptroller data also reflect that unemployment continues to hit women, with approximately 127,000 of them without work. «I think it is extremely important to mention that here in Panama, half of the population are women, and when we go to the homes, we see a large number of people working in informality,» Fuentes told EFE. There is also the situation that occurred during the pandemic, when a large number of women during that period «had their work contact automatically interrupted and to this day have not been able to re-enter the labor market,» the union leader stated. Macho violence and femicides Student leader Ileana Corea, who is part of the «Revolutionary Youth» group, questions that despite an «increase» in femicide cases being registered in the country, it is a topic that «apparently is not on the current government's political agenda.» The university activist pointed out to EFE that this is the case because the authorities, after that escalation of increasingly violent femicides by the perpetrators, try to offer «explanations that make no sense in the face of the reality we women are living with gender violence.» According to statistical data released last January by the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor's Office), Panama registered a total of 20 femicides in 2025, with a percentage variation of -13.04% compared to the previous year, which closed with 23. Of the total femicide victims, six were killed with a firearm, five with a sharp weapon, four by mechanical asphyxiation, two with a blunt object, one was burned, and two by undetermined causes.
