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The care crisis: a new item on the gender agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean

2022-05-30T03:37:31.449Z


The social and cultural transformation towards a society that cares installs us in a new ethic that finally recognizes one of the most important contributions that women have assumed since the beginning of time


Since the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the world, entered into a global health emergency due to covid-19, the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) has warned and focused its work on the differentiated impact that the resulting socioeconomic crisis would have. in the women.

From one day to the next, and due to the rules of confinement, homes became the space where everything happened: care, education of children and adolescents, care for people with disabilities and the emergence of new needs. of older adults;

all of the above added to teleworking.

The figures now show that the workload in the private space increased for women, causing many to even give up their paid jobs in order to deal with these socially assigned and assumed responsibilities.

Thus, the labor participation of women was strongly impacted, to which is added the informality that characterizes their labor force;

impacts that lead us to consider that it is a lost decade for women.

With this impact on the equal participation of women in public life, a great setback is in sight, with the aggravating circumstance that economic recovery will not be able to advance effectively without the productive participation of the female population.

The gender approach understands the differentiated impacts of covid-19 on the lives of women and men, and realizes the need for the new pacts to come out of the crisis not only to contemplate health and the economy, but also the pacts of genre.

Breaking down the structural barriers that limit women's full access to their rights and economic empowerment is a challenge that must be at the center of the agenda.

Breaking down the structural barriers that limit women's full access to their rights and economic empowerment is a challenge that must be at the center of the agenda

From the CIM we call this situation the “global care emergency”, placing this as a structural point and a requirement for the transition to the new reality that requires sustainable economic growth.

Care must stop being individual and exclusive to family life, to become collective and thus position it in the public sphere.

It is imperative to move towards a society that cares and places care as a fundamental public good where all the actors are co-responsible.

Although there are advances in the conception of care, the promotion of social and cultural transformation towards a caring society installs us in a new ethic that finally recognizes one of the most important contributions that women have assumed since the beginning of the times such as caring for people, essential for life.

With this, it is essential to install this debate at all political decision-making levels and in the design and implementation of public policies, to position this discussion of the equitable distribution of care responsibilities and move towards care agreements.

It is along these lines that the CIM, with the support of the EUROsocial+ Program, promotes, coordinates and implements the design of the Inter-American Model Law on Care, a legal instrument for States that recognizes, values, redistributes and generates new forms of care for this task, as well as unpaid domestic work, recognizing the historical contribution of women in this matter.

Our Model Law includes key elements of international instruments and is based on the highest existing standards in terms of rights, non-discrimination and equality between men and women, seeking to strengthen the inter-American legal framework, one that creates the necessary conditions so that women can participate and remain in the labor market under equal conditions, by reducing the burden of disproportionate unpaid work that limits them.

We are aware that a legal instrument is the first step of many that we hope will follow.

Faced with the many uncertainties facing the gender agenda in the region, the involvement of a multiplicity of partners is imperative: men, civil society, the private sector, trade unions, among others, within the framework of a framework agenda of equality and economic empowerment of women.

This, driven by multilateralism, the mechanisms for the advancement of women's rights that exist in each country of the region and with the sorority leaderships that have historically accompanied this struggle.

Faced with this panorama, from the CIM together with the national mechanisms for women in the region, we have positioned post-Covid recovery, among other issues, as a priority for the 39th Assembly of Delegates, a strategic space to advance the women's agenda of America that celebrates every three years.

On May 25 and 26, 2022 in Panama, we were able to collectively advance our roadmap with concrete actions in the face of clear challenges, where the differentiated needs of women and girls are at the center.

The pandemic leaves us with havoc and uncertainties, but also opportunities and lessons learned.

The most forceful for the sustainable development of our region is: never again without us.

Alejandra Mora Mora

is executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission of Women of the Organization of American States.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-05-30

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