ECLAC: It is time for transformational changes such as the one proposed by the care society

“It is time for transformational changes such as the one proposed by the care society”, he stressed today Jose Manuel Salazar-XirinachsExecutive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), during the presentation of the document The care society: horizon for a sustainable recovery with gender equality that guides the work of the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean which is celebrated in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The world and the region find themselves in a scenario of prolonged multidimensional crisis and an unequal recovery that has disproportionately impacted women, aggravating the structural knots of gender inequality, ECLAC maintains in the publication. This scenario requires precise diagnoses and concrete proposals that allow us to leave behind a development model that has ignored the care of people and the planet.

“In the face of cascading crises, hopeful proposals are needed. That is what the care society is all about: a proposal for social organization that places the sustainability of life as the priority objective”, explained the highest representative of the United Nations regional commission.

In addition to being essential for the sustainability of life, the care sectors have the potential to boost economies and generate employment, highlights ECLAC, even more so considering the significant increase in the demand for care that is projected due to the demographic and epidemiological transition. that crosses the region.

The COVID-19 pandemic generated a setback of almost 20 years in the levels of labor participation of women in the region, limiting their economic autonomy, according to data from the Commission. But the levels of unemployment and the labor participation rate of women are not explained solely by the weakening of employment in general as part of the economic crisis: the main obstacle to the full insertion of women in the labor market is related to the overload of unpaid domestic and care work.

Approximately 60% of women in households with the presence of boys and girls under 15 years of age declare that they do not participate in the labor market due to family responsibilities, while in households without the presence of boys and girls of the same age group, this figure is at 18%. Women between 20 and 59 years of age in households with the presence of children under 5 years of age are the ones who, before the pandemic, had the lowest employment rates and who, likewise, registered the greatest decreases in employment levels as a consequence of the crisis.

ECLAC has estimated that closing gender gaps in labor participation could increase GDP by 6.9 percentage points between 2016 and 2030 in the region.

The document released today also warns about the great asymmetry in the total workload of men and women: women work more hours but less for pay.

The total workload (which includes paid and unpaid work) of women is higher than that of men in the employed population in all countries and all age groups, with differences that vary between 2.4 and 20, 8 hours per week. Women spend between 6.3 and 29.5 hours more per week than men on domestic and care work.

According to ECLAC calculations, women in the region spend 19.6% of their time on unpaid domestic and care work, while men only 7.3%. In other words, women dedicate almost three times as much time to these activities as men.

Currently, 10 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean calculate the monetary contribution of unpaid household work. Some of the approximations made in the region quantify that this type of work has a value of between 15.9% and 27.6% of GDP. On average, 74% of this contribution is made by women, the document highlights.

“The magnitude of unpaid domestic and care work in relation to GDP shows the relevance of this work at an economic level and this contradicts the low social value it has and the scarce use that is given to this information for the decision-making in terms of economic policies”, warns the publication.

The scarcity of women’s time prevents, for example, higher levels of political participation: in 2021 women held 33.6% of the seats in national parliaments in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is estimated that at this rate it will take more than 40 years to reach parity in national parliaments.

In local governments, meanwhile, only 24.9% of elected positions are occupied by women.

Designing and implementing care policies requires affirmative actions in the field of taxation, employment, productive, economic and social policies in the short, medium and long term, it is stated in the document.

This implies, among other things, guaranteeing the rights of people who need care and of people who provide care; make visible the multiplier effects of the care economy; implement policies that consider time, resources, benefits and quality services; eliminate the precariousness of jobs related to the care sector; and generate information and advance in the georeferencing of data on time use, women’s labor participation and gender gaps.

“When we think about the very significant increase in the demand for care that is expected due to the aging of the population, it is clear that fiscal policies in the region will have a very important challenge in the coming years, which is to open up fiscal space to provide the additional resources necessary to finance the expansion of care networks”, underlined José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

The highest representative of ECLAC emphasized that “we are at a turning point as countries and as a region. We need to act with a sense of urgency and raise the level of ambition and scale in policy efforts. This is not a time for timid, gradual changes, but for bold, transformative policies that truly move the needles of development.”

The presentation of the document included comments from Antonia Orellana, Minister of Women and Gender Equity of Chile; María Ángeles Durán, Researcher at the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) of Spain; María-Noel Vaeza, Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women); and Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (by video).

The program of the XV Regional Conference on Women being held in Argentina includes the launch of various documents with policy recommendations, a high-level debate on the caring societythematic panels on care financing Y planet care and a round table on co-responsibility of carein addition to 30 side eventsamong other activities.

Follow the meeting with the hashtags #XVConferenciaMujerALC and #SociedadDelCuidado