A recovery with gender equality requires financing care policies, say specialists

With the participation of specialists from the entire region, the Fourth Meeting of Specialists was held on “The financing of care policies: a virtuous circle for the sustainable recovery and economic autonomy of women.” The meeting –organized by ECLAC and UN Women– is part of a series of activities for the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place from November 7 to 11 in Argentina. The meeting aimed to discuss the possibilities and restrictions of financing care policies in the framework of economic recovery in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The conversation was opened by Ana Güezmes, Director of the Gender Affairs Division of ECLAC, who emphasized that even before the pandemic there was a profound inequality in the social organization of care in the region: women dedicated , on average, three times as long as men on unpaid care and domestic work. “This is a profoundly structural dimension that makes it urgent to advance to a different development system, putting the sustainability of life and care at the center not only as a paradigm for reflection, but also for political action.”

To this end, Ana Güezmes expressed, it is “urgent to move towards a different style of development, putting the sustainability of life at the center, and care not only as a paradigm of reflection but also of political and profoundly civilizing action.” In this sense, he added, a structural change and a transformative recovery are necessary, “articulating the axis of equality with that of sustainability, the construction of a renewed social contract based on a policy of inclusion and social protection, in participatory processes, which is a shared concern in the 2030 agenda and in the Regional Gender Agenda”.

Along the same lines, added Ana Güezmes, “to achieve a caring society we need a social, cultural and, without a doubt, fiscal pact. A fiscal pact that puts gender equality at the center and not only in the national environment, but also in financial architectures at the regional and global levels, which can contribute to economic reactivation, but at the same time to close gaps of inequality. It is urgent that countries invest in care policies for a recovery with equality and sustainability”.

In the same vein, Cecilia Alemany, UN Women Deputy Regional Director, highlighted the progress made in regulatory frameworks and care initiatives and policies. “However, we know that with the little fiscal space we have and the traditional budget prioritization, in general terms the gender perspective has not been incorporated into national budgets. We have to continue advancing in how to prioritize public investment, but also in how to measure it and position care initiatives and issues or policies in the debate as one more pillar of social security and well-being”.

The meeting was attended by specialists from throughout the region, who mapped the sources of financing used by various countries that have implemented national care systems. In the same sense, there were several exhibitions that showed the percentages of GDP invested by country and service provision models.

The participations focused on several aspects, one of which was the need to advance care beyond its link with health systems, and consider the idea of ​​the fourth pillar of social protection as an independent pillar with a socio-health perspective. . The concern generated by the fact that economic benefits are gaining place to the detriment of care services was also mentioned. This is due to low costs and goes against the objective of defamiliarizing care and therefore has risks for gender equality. Faced with this, it becomes necessary to seek innovative self-financing mechanisms so that the excluded sectors can join social security. In this sense, they stated, the pandemic has shown the importance of the state and also of the increase in inequality, and that provides an opportunity to find new forms of financing.

The experts also referred to the need to think of new forms and opportunities of financing. Likewise, the possibility of a new way of thinking about the economy that responds to climate change was raised, as well as how investments in energy and biodiversity, and how to understand care in this green transition.

Investment in care, they concluded, has large equalizing effects in terms of gender in all countries. More financing is required through general taxation (the larger the base the better; formalizing employment will help), but also through partnerships between the public and private sectors, and with unions.