拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的护理时间：迈向社会和性别共同责任

BULLETIN Time for care in Latin Americaand the Caribbean No. 4December 2025 Towards social and gender co-responsibility Introduction Contents The Regional Gender Agenda identifies four structural challenges of genderinequality that need to be overcome: (i) socioeconomic inequality and thepersistence of poverty; (ii) patriarchal discriminatory and violent cultural patternsand the predominance of the culture of privilege; (iii) the sexual division of labourand the unfair social organization of care; and (iv) the concentration of power andhierarchical relations in the public sphere (ECLAC, 2017). In this context, policiesthat address the structural challenges of gender inequality —particularly the sexualdivision of labour— and promote women’s labour participation and inclusion, decentwork and the fair social organization of care are especially relevant. To overcome the challenge of the unfair social organization of care, it is essential,from a gender, human rights and intersectionality perspective, to promote thedesign and implementation of comprehensive care policies and systems thatcontribute to gender and social co-responsibility for care; that is, in which bothmen and women from all sectors of society, families, communities, the privatesector and the State participate. The Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted by the member States of the EconomicCommission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) at the fifteenth sessionof the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, heldin 2022, proposes a path towards a care society and recognizes care as a need,a job and a right of persons —to care, to be cared for and to exercise self-care. Italso puts forward measures to overcome the sexual division of labour and movetowards a fair social organization of care, framed by a new model of developmentaimed at promoting gender equality in the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Lastly, it makes a call to design and implement State policiesthat promote gender co-responsibility and make it possible to overcome stereotypes, including throughregulations aimed at establishing parental leave for the diverse forms of families, as well as unalienable andnon-transferable paternity leave, and other types of leave to care for dependent persons (ECLAC, 2023a). International labour regulations provide a broad framework for the development of care policies. In particular, theMaternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183)1and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981(No. 156), both of the International Labour Organization (ILO), together with Recommendation No. 191 andRecommendation No. 165, address the need for leave and care, among other services, to move towardsgender equality in paid work. The Resolution Concerning Decent Work and the Care Economy, adopted bythe International Labour Conference at its 112th session of June 2024, represents the first internationaltripartite agreement on the subject (ILO, 2024b); and it underscores the urgent need for action to ensuredecent work and promote access to quality care and support. To this end, it builds on the 5Rs Framework fordecent care work (recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care and reward and representationof care workers), international labour standards and social dialogue. The resolution provides a commonunderstanding of the care economy, guiding principles and policy recommendations. This bulletin presents an analysis of the status of maternity, paternity and parental leave in Latin Americaand the Caribbean. It also outlines the challenge of advancing measures such as parental leave, long-termcare leave and urgent leave, as well as the shortening of the working day and more flexible arrangementsin terms of both hours and places of work. These regulatory tools should be made available to both menand women, since they are essential for the exercise of co-responsibility, the guarantee of the right tocare and the achievement of gender equality, while at the same time galvanizing the economy (see box 1). ▪Box 1The energizing potential of investment in care The International Labour Organization (ILO) has developed the Care Policy Investment Simulator, as an onlinetool that models the investment opportunities and the potential benefits of parental leave, as well as child andlong-term care services for persons who need support or day care to maintain their autonomy and well-being.The simulator makes it possible to design a set of care policies and simulate the annual public expenditurerequired in each country to implement them. In turn, the modelled benefits refer to the short-run return oninvestment (annual tax revenues) and the reduction of gender gaps in employment and wages. Job growthcomes from direct increases in the care sector, indirect increases in industries supplying the care sector, andinduced increases in household consumption and expenditure (from the income earned in thes