The Academic Forum on Care begins in preparation for the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Academic Forum “Territories of Care: Contributions from Academia to the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean” will be held in Mexico City on August 28 and 29, 2024. Convened by the Government of Mexico through the National Institute of Women; El Colegio de México, AC (COLMEX); the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and UN Women, the event brings together representatives from academia, governments, civil society and international organizations.

Silvia Giorguli, president of El Colegio de México, where the meeting is taking place, said: “The academy participates in the construction of regionalism in Latin America, taking as its main axes the impact of care for development; the consolidation of care policies from a transformative and sustainable perspective; the advances, synergies and challenges in the research agenda and its articulation with social protection; and the application of an integrated intersectional perspective in Latin America and the Caribbean.” In addition, she highlighted the contribution of the academy to the diagnoses and data for the development of care policies and its responsibility in participating in public discussions.

Ana Güezmes, Director of ECLAC’s Gender Affairs Division, highlighted: “The Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted at the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2022, reaffirms the importance of considering care as essential work, a right, and a dynamic sector of the economy. Today, at this Academic Forum, we are building the path towards the XVI Regional Conference on Women to be held in Mexico in 2025, with the conviction that integrating care into the center of public policies is crucial to transforming our societies and a pillar for the sustainability of life and the planet. At ECLAC, we reaffirm our commitment to promoting a care society to achieve gender equality and a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future.”

The Forum, which is being held for the first time, marks a significant milestone in preparations for the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will take place in Mexico in 2025.

For 47 years, the Conference has been establishing priorities and relevant issues for the generation of public policies with a gender perspective in the region, positioning itself as a pioneer in debates on gender equality, work and care.

During the inauguration, Cecilia Alemany, Deputy Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean of UN Women, stressed the importance of focusing on care and territories: “Revaluing the territory and paying attention to the proximity of the local in comprehensive care policies ensures the proximity of care services, improves the quality of life, promotes formal work at the local level and gives greater value to public services. In this forum, we hope to identify research and innovations in national and subnational care policies, understand how the sense of community operates and how to strengthen infrastructure and the relationship with the environment.”

For her part, Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute for Women of Mexico, highlighted the relevance of the event in the regional context. “This topic is very important for the Government of Mexico and for the Transformation because in this government we have put people at the center. This meeting point is crucial for the regional gender agenda where organizations, governments, international organizations of the United Nations, feminist organizations, activists and the Academy will meet at the XVI Conference to see the roadmap for the construction of this care society.”

The role of care in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Regional Gender Agenda

The Forum will discuss how the reorganization of care work and investment in care policies and systems are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda. In addition to contributing to SDG 5, which focuses on gender equality, comprehensive care policies and systems are key to eradicating poverty, promoting health, education and decent work, and combating climate change.

The region is home to the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is the main United Nations regional intergovernmental forum on women’s rights and gender equality.

For 47 years, ECLAC member states have agreed on a deep, progressive and comprehensive Regional Gender Agenda, which positions the region as the only one in the world to have an Agenda that guides the public policies of countries to achieve gender equality in law and in practice, guarantee the rights and autonomy of women, and generate the foundations for building equal societies.

The Regional Gender Agenda reaffirms the importance of considering care not only as a need expressed in a growing demand, but also as a job, a right and a dynamic sector of the economy.

Forum debates and methodology

The Forum is organized into presentations and roundtables that address key topics such as “The right to care”, “Care, territories and environmental sustainability”, “Decent work and the care economy”, and “Challenges for the research agenda on care”. These sessions will allow for an in-depth and detailed analysis of each aspect, integrating intersectional and territorial approaches that recognize the diversity of experiences in the region.

This Academic Forum on Care will lay the foundation for ongoing work that will be strengthened in collaboration with civil society, academia, governments and international organizations in the months leading up to the XVI Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2025.

The discussions and reflections generated in this space will significantly contribute to enriching the regional debate on how to move towards a care society. This joint effort will allow the voices and perspectives of all the actors involved to be integrated in the search for practical and effective solutions that respond to the challenges of the region, with gender equality and sustainability as central axes of development.