Latin America is lagging behind on gender pay equity, and that's a problem for the region's economy and culture as a whole, according to the United Nations.

The gap in pay equity between men and women is narrowing more slowly in Latin America than many other places in the world, and that's hampering economic development and progress towards gender equality, said the United Nations this week.

The UN Latin American branch released figures from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) this week, finding that the pay gap between Latin American women and men is shrinking, but not at a pace that will bring gender equality and accelerated economic development to the region any time soon.

"Earning the same salary as a man under equal conditions is a woman's right," said Alicia Barcena, the executive secretary of ECLAC, in a statement reported by Reuters this week. "It is an unavoidable requirement for their economic autonomy as well as for the achievement of gender equality."

The ECLAC looked at wages earned by Latin American men and women living in urban area between the ages of 20 and 49 who work more than 35 hours a week, across 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The study looked at a timeline of changes in gender pay equity between 1990 and 2014.

The data released by ECLAC show that the pay gap between women and men in the region shrank by about 12 percent in approximately the last 15 years, since 1990. But the study also found that women were still earning, on average, a quarter less than men in comparable positions.

The gap for highly educated women, those with 13 years of education that tend to contribute more to the economy, only shrank by 9 percent over the same period. They still earn 26 percent less than men working the same jobs.

The least educated women with five years of education or less, meanwhile, actually closed the gender pay equity gap in Latin America from 1990 to 2014, according to ECLAC. They now make nearly 80 percent on the dollar compared to men's earnings in similar fields of work, a 22 percent change over the time period studied.

In many Latin American countries, the closing of the gender pay gap -- especially in careers that require less education -- can be attributed to protections and labor regulations passed in recent years aimed at domestic workers, the majority of which are women. These measures often include setting minimum hourly pay rates and raising the monthly minimum wage, the ECLAC report found.

But more women in Latin America fall into the highly educated demographic, which continues to lag behind, darkening the overall picture of pay equity in the region despite gains by the least educated. Pay for women working in telecommunications, science, and technology, in particular, continues to lag behind the earnings levels their male peers.

"This shows that the investment in education and vocational training of women has not impacted their earnings in line with those of men with the same training," wrote the report.

While modernization and economic development are positive forces, overall, there are imbalances that continue to occur even as high skilled, technology-enabled economies begin to bloom in Latin America.