Study jointly prepared by the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Authors of the study: Julio Bango and Patricia Cossani, consultants for the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women, with the collaboration of Viviana Piñeiro. Editing and content review: Constanza Narancio, Communications Advisor to the Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women.
CARE AS A PILLAR OF WELFARE AND
A DRIVING FORCE FOR RECOVERY IN THE FACE
What do we talk about when we talk about care?
On the other hand, it is essential to note that the use of the term 'care' in recent years has provoked critical reflection among organizations working in the field of persons with disabilities, insofar as its definition can ultimately lead to the implementation of welfare policies, which do not consider the person with disabilities as a person with the right to an independent life, but as a passive subject in need of assistance. In the case of children, the concept of care is strongly linked to education, and it is clear that these go hand in hand. It is a matter of quality time for child care, giving priority to the adequate development of the child.
What is the current
Therefore, from a rights-based perspective, care policies can guarantee the right to receive and provide care under conditions of quality and equality. In Latin America and the Caribbean, about 13 million people in 2019 were engaged in paid domestic work, 91.5% of them women, many of them Afro-descendants, natives and/or migrants.5. From a comprehensive and gender-sensitive perspective, the design of Care Systems must promote the change of the traditional sexual division of labor, anchor the right to care and the right to be cared for in conditions of quality and equality, prioritize children's development, to a dignified life for older people and the right to an independent life for people with disabilities, and to make it compatible with women's right to autonomy and their full political, economic and social participation.
Why is it necessary to take steps towards a new
- Care Systems as a fundamental pillar of well-being
- Care Systems are fundamental to face the challenge of overcoming poverty and reducing inequalities successfully
- Care as a driver of socio-economic recovery in COVID-19 times
- The economic and social returns of investing in Care Systems: the triple dividend
This creates a vicious cycle between care, poverty, inequality and deprivation14, as those in the worst economic situation are less able to hire part of the care services on the market and have to do this work themselves. In fact, according to ECLAC, the countries have the highest levels of extreme poverty. In short, countries in the region that want to face the challenges of reducing poverty and inequality in all forms must prioritize investing in the development of care systems, from a human rights perspective with an emphasis on gender, intersectionality and interculturality. .
In the context of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the governments of the region recognize care as a human right of individuals. The current economic and social crisis in the region, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, has deepened the crisis in the current social organization of healthcare. The impact of the closure of educational centers and care services has been noted in all countries, where women have seen their burden of caring at home increase as a result of confinement.18 The overload of care for families – and women within them – has led to a greater perception of paid work, which is reflected in specific surveys conducted in recent months by several countries in the region.19.
Several countries in the region have included specific measures in their immediate response to the crisis.21 Some have gone further and are focusing on creating comprehensive care systems or promoting longer-term policies and programs. Third, investments in care systems facilitate people's participation in the labor force, which particularly affects women. As stated above, time spent on unpaid domestic and care work is currently the main barrier to women's full participation in the labor market25.
In the first year, this gap is 0.07% of GDP, and by the fifth year – when the desired coverage is achieved – the financing gap of the system will be equal to 0.85% of GDP.28.
WHAT ELEMENTS CONSTITUTE
A COMPREHENSIVE CARE SYSTEM?
- What do we mean when
- What is the difference
- Target populations
- Guiding principles for the creation of Comprehensive
- Care as a right
- Universality
- Co-responsibility
- Solidarity in financing
- Promotion of autonomy
- The components of
Virtually all countries in the region have programs that provide some type of care services. Care policies are defined as a set of programs designed to meet the needs and ensure the exercise of the rights of a specific population. With regard to people who carry out paid care work - whether at home or in various institutional settings - the aim is to increase the value of their work and to create career training that will allow them to consolidate their integration into the labor market while ensuring the quality of care they provide and achieving decent working conditions.
In short, and based on successive international instruments1 signed by the countries of the region, the idea is to consider all policy targets as active subjects of rights and not as passive beneficiaries of a policy. Likewise, action plans must be linked so that people can evaluate the progress of the policy through successive accountability. These action plans can also be used to ensure the principle of progressivity and non-regression on the part of the State as a guarantee of the right to care.
Defining social responsibility as one of the guiding principles of public policy means that such a policy is the result of a combination of efforts between all actors in society that can be providers of welfare: the State (at the federal, provincial or municipal level), market, families and community. Therefore, one of the objectives of care policy should be to promote the sharing of responsibility for care between men and women. It is possible to include subsidies for the payment of the aforementioned care services.
Management of information and knowledge that enables the comprehensiveness of systems and the possibility of making political decisions adequately, based on quality information.
IMPLEMENTATION DYNAMICS OF COMPREHENSIVE
CARE SYSTEMS: ELEMENTS TOWARDS A ROADMAP
- Political governance of the System: The interinstitutional
- Construction of the legal-normative framework
- Institution building for governance
- Intersectoral management of the components of
- The construction of intersectorality as a principle of management by components
- Aspects to consider in the implementation processes of the system’s components
- Social participation
- Partnerships for management
- Community participation as a territorial key for the implementation and monitoring of the care policy
- Can care be sustainable in the medium term?
- Final recommendations
- Encourage among the institutional actors involved a shared vision of what a Care
- Generate instruments to empower civil society organizations by transferring
- Establish a permanent dialogue with the national/federal level that contributes to
It is a way of managing that focuses on people's situations and structures the delivery of services and other system components from there. At stake in these two issues is the future ability of system members to articulate. This enables the articulated implementation of all system components that are triggered.
In each case, the implementation of the actions will be led by the respective competent bodies. The coordinated management of the system's components makes it possible to structure solutions that are better adapted to people's realities. Aspects to consider in the implementation processes of the system's components of the system's components.
Beyond the specifics of each country, the cross-sectoral implementation process of the System's components will require a series of actions to organize the implementation. Below is a set of possible actions that will be developed in the direction of cross-sectoral management of system components. To design a competency-based training curriculum that allows the implementation of the axes of the training strategy.
To build the teaching profiles that include the public health and socio-. These institutional spaces will generate synergies and coordinate actions to develop each of the components of the care policy at the local level. In turn, different modalities can be adopted depending on the goals and objectives set and the stage of the system's construction.
CONCLUSION
- The progress in rights
- Elimination of social inequalities and the
- The care economy
- Contribution to the sustainable development
Finally, in the medium term, it can have an impact on the formalization and professionalization of paid care workers, increasing their work skills, income and productivity. The importance of addressing the current care crisis has been recognized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development itself, formulating its objective 5.4. In this regard, the Montevideo Strategy urges governments to promote the adoption of care policies and the promotion of co-responsibility between women and men that contribute to women's autonomy and a just social organization of care.
The States' promotion of care policies involves the inclusion of a new right in the welfare matrix: the right of all people to care and not to be cared for, as well as their right to be cared for in conditions of quality and equality. The recognition and valorization of unpaid care work has made it possible to measure its weight in terms of wealth generation in countries and its relevance in the economic structure. Investment in care policies in the form of services and regulations helps to increase activity rates, especially among women, by eliminating the main structural barrier that women face in accessing the labor market.
In turn, legislation, regulation and supervision of quality employment in the care economy improve working conditions in the sector and improve retirement conditions (pension systems). In an end-of-the-demographic-dividend scenario3 in the region, the high percentage of older people in relation to the number of active people will require greater investment in health and social security to ensure the well-being of the population. On the one hand, care policies are an essential tool to encourage greater participation by women in the labor market, to contribute to their full potential and generate a return to society for the resources invested in education systems.
Source: Adapted from UN Women and ECLAC (2020) Care in Latin America and the Caribbean during Covid-19.
COMPREHENSIVE CARE POLICIES AND SYSTEMS
Política nacional de cuidados Hacia la implantación gradual del sistema de cuidados y apoyo a la dependencia. MIDES instala mesa de políticas públicas para definir el sistema de atención integral de Panamá. La vicepresidencia impulsa un proyecto con énfasis en la igualdad de género, con el fin de convertir el cuidado de la familia en una política nacional.
El gobierno inicia diálogo y coordinación sectorial para lanzar el componente Cuidados del programa Superate.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hablemos de cuidados: nociones básicas harcia una politica integral de cuidados con perspective de género. The effects of early childhood education: What we know, how public policy is or is not consistent with the evidence base, and what we need to know. Equality, child development and job creation: How to reap the 'triple dividend' from pre-school education and care.
Reconocer, redistribuir y reducir el trabajo de cuidados: prácticas inspiradoras en América Latina y el Caribe. Desigualdad, crisis de cuidados y migración del trabajo doméstico remunerado en América Latina”, Serie Asuntos de Género, núm.
