On 1 December 2015, the final M-CARE conference was organised in Brussels, Belgium at VLEVA premises. The event “Caring for people with disabilities and older people: challenges, opportunities and (mobile/online) training solutions” focussed on the importance of good quality personal caregiving (PCG) for people with disabilities and older people. Focus was on caring in a broader perspective, and how M-CARE’s (mobile/online) training solutions can contribute to successful PCGs. More information at: http://mcare-project.eu/ http://twitter.com/MCareproject http://www.facebook.com/MCareproj This project (M-Care - 539913-LLP-1-2013-1-TR-LEONARDO-LMP) has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

1. Caregiving from a Latin American
perspective
Silvia Margarita Baldiris Navarro
Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico Comfenalco, Cartagena, Colombia
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Athabasca University, Edmonton, Canadá

2. What means CARE for LA?
According with United Nations Development Programme (PNUD):
• Care can be defined as "the set of activities and relationships
aimed at achieving physical and emotional needs of the target
population care that is not autovalente: children / as,
dependent elderly and People with disabilities.”
• Care involves:
– a job (material dimension), although it is not socially recognized as
such and is not always paid;
– cost (economic dimension);
– a bond (emotional dimension);
– a public good, and that adds economic value and involves a grant to
the whole of society.

3. What means CARE for LA?
According with United Nations Development
Programme (PNUD):
• Care policies make up the space of social policy
that deals with the provision of goods, services,
values and emotions involved in the care of
dependents

4. Feature of Care in LA
• Care has been in charge of families (familiarization) and
women (feminization). The social protection systems in
the region rested on the assumption that care is a
responsibility of families. Therefore there is an
insufficient presence of public policy.
• The region is working in achieving a greater gender
equality: Women are over-represented in the activities
of home care and care when dealing in the paid labor
market.
• In the region this activities involve a more precarious
work (domestic work, care Community), often not well
paid.

5. Feature of Care in LA
• Female dedication to the tasks related to the
care economy, it is not a free decision. It is
biased by social, economic, labor and
politicians that permeate society.
• The sexual division of labor assigns specific
roles, both men and women, and is the result
of a series of inequalities inside the home.
• This has been justified, claiming a supposed
comparative advantage against men.

6. Hours in a week doing unpaid and paid
work (Home and Women)

7. Hours in a week doing unpaid and paid
work (Home and Women)
• Women in all countries work more hours in total
than men, especially in Uruguay and Mexico
• Women tend to work more hours in unpaid activities,
while men devote more to paid employment.
• Rural women spend many more hours of work in
general and in particular on unpaid work, both
comparison with men as with urban women.

8. • According to Argentina’s national statistics and census institute,
INEC, women dedicate twice as much time as men to caregiving:
6.4 hours a day compared to 3.4 hours. Among women who
work outside the home, the average is 5.8 hours.
• Women participate less in the labor market (the activity rate
women have a difference of 25 points from that of men: 55% vs.
80%). Women who are mothers participate even less than non-
mothers (60% vs. 80%).
Hours in a week doing unpaid and paid
work (Home and Women)

9. • In the field and in the city adult women devote more
hours to work unpaid than young women.
• The generational gap found in terms of hours spent
on unpaid work could be because young women are
not yet independent and, therefore, the family
responsibilities and care needs are lower.
Hours in a week doing unpaid and paid
work (Home and Women)

10. Latin America is facing what has been called the
caregiving crisis!

11. The demographic
landscape of
Latin America
shows that it is
closing the
demographic
dividend.

12. The number of
people aged 80
years and more
it increased by 6
times until 2050.
It means there
are more people
in need of care.”

13. Implications
• At the same time the proportion of the population
able to provide care has shrunk, basically because of
the massive influx of women in the labour market.
• LA is facing a bottleneck between the caregiving
needs according to the current population structure
and the drop in family caregiving capacity

14. Advances from the X Regional
Conference on Women (2007)
COUNTRY LAW SCOPE
Argentina Law 1168 of the Legislature
(2003)
The Department of Statistics and Censuses from the
Government of the City of Buenos Aires must investigate
systematically and regularly on the distribution of the time
used by women and men residents
Bolivia Constitución del 2009
(Article 338)
It is recognizing the value of unpaid work women and
undertakes to quantify in the accounts public
Colombia Law 1413 from 2010 It forces to incorporate Satellite Account with measures and
contribution to the PIB of women's unpaid work.
Ecuador Constitución de 2011,
Capítulo IV, Sección 2.,
Artículo 36
State commitment to make statistics and to include satellite
accounts as part of the System
National Accounts.
México Agreement 9a/IX/2010 Specialized Technical Committee on Information with Gender
Perspective. Support for the implementation of the
Housework Satellite Account of Mexico.
Perú Law 29700 from 2011 Include a satellite account of unpaid work
in the National Accounts. Apply surveys about
The use of the time.
Puerto Rico Project of Law 2011 -
Expediente No 18.073
Law project to include care economy to
the System of National Accounts

15. Advances some countries
COUNTRIES ADVANCES Gross Domestic Product
Colombia Module in a survey with many topics 17,2
Uruguay Module in survey applied to families 26,6
México National survey 22,6
Surveys to measure the time use and assess of the
care economy :

16. Early childhood
• Average of child by Women:
– City 2,27; in the field 3.8 (2015)
• Public services of child care are low quality and not cover all needs and
time.
COUNTRIES INSTITUTION Services
México
They do not consider women
who are in the field, not
encourage more active
participation of men in the work
of parenting.
IMSS —Instituto
Mexicano de Seguridad
Social
A system of care for the children and
daughters of working women that favors
favors women workers in the formal
sector the economy, but leaves out
informal women.
Centros Asistenciales de
Desarrollo Infantil (CADI)
Poor urban population
Care of children between 45 days old and
5 years and 11 months.

17. Early childhood
COUNTRIES INSTITUTION COVERAGE SERVICES
Colombia Instituto Colombiano de
Bienestar Familiar (ICBF).
Programmes:
1. Hogares Comunitarios de
Bienestar (HCB).
2. De Cero a Siempre
3. Informal Care (At home
with family)
24,9% It consists of centers for children under
six years of low resources, which are
leaded by a community mother chosen
by the community. Each center opens in
the morning till about 14:00 in the
afternoon.
1
2
3

18. Early childhood
COUNTRIES INSTITUTION COVERAGE SERVICES
Uruguay Integrated system of
care services
Programmes:
Centres of attention
to Childhood
and the family (CAIF)
40% These are centers focus on children
between zero and three years old to
support they in developing social
and cognitive skills, and to receive
the necessary care
during this time of their life.
Including people with disability.

19. Care services to the elderly population
• The design and implementation of care policies to
older adults are not increasing in the same rhythm
than old population.
• Current policies are oriented to three main focuses:
physical and social conditions, economic security and
health:
– Pensions – Labour market
– Just some countries implement economic help to people
outside of the labour market, it means vulnerable people
• Care services for old people are private, governments
not offer public care services

20. Labour Market
• The urban labor force participation of women
has increased substantially in the region in
recent decades, widening the gap between
the need for care services and the provision
thereof
• It is not the case of rural women where the
traditional role of women in the family is more
pronounced.

21. Big challenges
• To consolidate comprehensive public care systems
in LA countries that contribute to deal with our
reality, considering:
– Public policies must encourage job sharing unpaid more
equally between men and women, promoting actions
towards a public and private sector participation in the
economy of care at homes.
– Increasing female integration in employment, increase
the efficiency and productivity of countries.
– Promote higher overall productivity of our economies.

22. Public policies should include
• Care services that relax the time
responsibilities of mothers and housewives.
• Support for income-generating activities of
women in the labor market
• Incentives to reform the social conception of
gender roles
• Legislation to promote equality and respect
for rights.

23. Caregiving from a Latin American
perspective
Silvia Margarita Baldiris Navarro
Athabasca University, Edmonton, Canadá
Fundación Universitaria Tecnológico Comfenalco, Cartagena, Colombia