Cities must be transformed from a gender perspective and towards a care society, says ECLAC

The way in which cities are developed can deepen or decrease gender inequality. The region still faces the challenge of developing cities so that they improve and make the use and distribution of time more fair, and allow greater equality of rights between men and women. For this reason, it is necessary to rethink cities in the role of cities that care, that is, that put well-being, the sustainability of life at the center.

These were some of the suggestions made by Ana Güezmes, Director of ECLAC’s Gender Affairs Division, during her participation in the Panel “Inclusive cities: Incorporation of the gender approach and care systems”, within the framework of the XXXI General Assembly of the Forum of Ministers and Highest Authorities of Housing and Urban Planning of Latin America and the Caribbean (Minurvi). It is the space for intergovernmental coordination and cooperation of the countries of the region in the area of ​​sustainable development of human settlements and, since December 2020, ECLAC and UN Habitat jointly exercise the Technical Secretariat of this Forum.

During her presentation, Ana Güezmes recalled that the new urban agenda and the Sustainable Development Agenda have placed gender equality and the full autonomy of women in its three dimensions: economic, physical and political. “The measurement of time use in urban space shows how we are in cities that have not been thought of in the logic of care, which is why the link between housing and public transport policies where women are the main users is relevant.”

In this sense, she said, in order to build cities that care from a gender perspective, it is necessary to approach care from a territorial perspective, focusing on the set of social relations that coexist in time and space between local political, social and institutional. Likewise, “the territorial perspective in the care policy must be intersectional, considering economic, social and cultural conditions of the territories and their particular needs; and it must be situational: inequalities are also permeated by the characteristics of the space in which care is provided, which can exacerbate the burden that care entails”.

The need for these changes occurs in a regional context of a cascading crisis, which also includes a care crisis. The indicators show how unpaid care work affects the autonomy of women, indicated the Director of the Gender Affairs Division. The gap in labor participation between men and women generated by the overload of care work for women worsened in the pandemic with the high demand for child care and the increase in demand for care for the elderly. She added that the region has not taken advantage of the demographic bonus and is not taking advantage of the gender bonus either, that is, the economic benefit that can be obtained by facilitating the participation of women in productive activity.

“At this inflection point we are at, we need to act with a sense of urgency, raise the level of ambition and scale in policy efforts,” said Ana Güezmes. For this, “bold solutions and innovative policies are required that produce transformational changes, such as the one proposed by the care society.” It is about building a new style of development, she said, in which pacts are made, economic, fiscal, but also cultural, and that unties the structural knots of inequality.

In this sense, he recalled, Latin America is the only region in the world that has a Regional Conference on Women, which has established consensus to advance this structural change and which is articulated with the other agreements on the matter. As a result of the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in November in Argentina, the governments committed to moving towards the care society. “This societal organization has transformative potential. It is multi-scalar, it operates in the territories, in the communities and the cities, but it needs regional and global agreements”.

As a result of the recent Regional Conference, the Governments adopted the Buenos Aires Commitment, which in point 33 highlights the importance of the “territorial approach that promotes the integration of statistical and georeferenced information to identify the demand and supply of care in the territories”. This commitment of the Governments constitutes a substantive step to advance towards the care society, by including a series of agreements related to the need to recognize and promote measures to overcome the unfair distribution of the use of time and the current social organization of care; recognize the right to care, to be cared for and to exercise self-care; promote co-responsibility in care; and implement policies and comprehensive care systems from a perspective of intersectionality and interculturality and human rights.

“The Regional Gender Agenda, the contributions of the feminist economy, the proposals of women’s and feminist movements and the indigenous paradigm of good living guide the principles of building a society that places care and the sustainability of life at the center , with gender equality”, remarked Ana Güezmes. For this reason, she reiterated her call to move towards a care society that promotes the availability of time, resources and services necessary for the sustainability of life on the basis of gender equality and the right to care.

The panel “Inclusive cities: Incorporation of the gender approach and care systems” took place on December 5 at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), in Santiago, Chile, and also included the participation of Tatiana Rojas Leiva, Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Planning of Chile, Edna Elena Vega Rangel, Undersecretary of Territorial and Agrarian Planning of the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) of Mexico; Roi Chiti, coordinator for Andean Countries of UN Habitat and Héctor Estrada Muñoz, Executive Director of the Housing and Human Settlements Program of Honduras. The moderation was in charge of Camila Cociña Varas, from the International Institute for Environment and Development.

The presentation of Ana Güezmes can be found here.

The panel can be seen here.