- Both United Nations agencies called on the countries of the region to adopt regulations that extend care time and launched the bulletin “Time for care in Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards social and gender co-responsibility”.
SANTIAGO, Chile, (ILO News) – In a new joint bulletin published leading up to International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) stated that leave periods, regulations and instruments that extend the time allowed for care are fundamental for fostering social and gender co-responsibility in the work environment. These regulations guarantee the rights of persons who need care and those who provide it, help galvanize the economy and allow for progress towards equality and the care society, the organizations emphasized.
Gender Equality Bulletin No. 4 – Time for care in Latin America and the Caribbean: Towards social and gender co-responsibilityanalyzes the status of maternity, paternity and parental leave in the region and proposes a series of recommendations for improvements regarding long-term and emergency leave, as well a shortened working day and more flexible arrangements for hours and places of work as regulatory tools that should be made available to both men and women.
The state of maternity and paternity leave in Latin America and the Caribbean
In Latin America and the Caribbean, only five countries provide 18 weeks or more of maternity leave; 10 countries have between 14 and 17 weeks, according to the ILO standard, and 18 countries provide fewer than 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. Despite recent improvements, protection of this right is still limited, mainly due to low labor participation of women and high rates of labor informality, affirm ECLAC and the ILO. In the region, only 50 percent of women participate in the labor market, compared to 75 percent of men. In addition, 52 percent of employed women do not contribute or are not affiliated to any social security system, which in most countries is a requirement for accessing this right.
Only 11 countries in Latin America provide paid paternity leave of less than 10 days, and just 6 grant leave of between 10 and 15 days. Of 14 Caribbean countries, only Suriname recognizes paid paternity leave, of 8 days. “Major challenges remain in terms of the duration of this type of leave, how it is funded, its coverage, and job protection in the context of care responsibilities. This makes it impossible to overcome the structural challenge of inequality related to the sexual division of labor in order to achieve gender equality,” the Bulletin states.
Parental leave, which may be paid or unpaid, consists of a longer period of job-protected leave made available to one or both parents to enable them to care for their child after maternity or paternity leave. In the region, only Chile, Colombia, Cuba and Uruguay recognize the right to paid parental leave. Cuba was the first to approve this type of leave, which currently spans the child’s first 15 months of life.
According to the ECLAC and ILO publication, only five countries in Latin America (Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico) provide for long-term care leave. Only in Costa Rica can this leave be used for another family member who is not a child. Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico offer social security-funded paid leave for employees, and only Chile extends this to the self-employed. In Ecuador, the cost of leave is borne by the employer. In Cuba, however, long-term care leave is unpaid.
Urgent care leave: Limited coverage and funding issues
Finally, leave for urgent reasons—for short-duration family-related reasons—is more common in the region than long-term care leave. Currently, 14 countries make provisions for this type of leave (Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay). The Caribbean has the lowest coverage in this regard. In all countries, except for the Bahamas, emergency leave is unpaid. Only in Chile is it financed through social security; in the other countries, it is financed by the employer sector.
A call for policy action on care work
“It is time to speed up progress towards substantive equality and promote the society of care as a goal in our shared path,” stated José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s executive secretary. “The future is here, and the demand for care work is increased by population aging, epidemiological changes and the effects of climate change. In this context, gradual changes are not enough; we need bold policy that redefines the path forward,” he emphasized during a dialogue with representatives from government, labor organizations and companies during which the Bulletin was presented.
In a similar vein, Ana Virginia Moreira, regional director of the ILO for Latin America and the Caribbean, stressed that “care work sustains life and economies. It is time to recognize its value and guarantee decent conditions for those who provide care, progressing towards a system of accessible, equal and sustainable care.”
According to calculations made by the Care Policy Investment Simulator (developed by the ILO and updated for Latin America and the Caribbean with the participation of ECLAC), “without considering induced effects or indirect employment, investment in care in the region could create approximately 32 million jobs by 2035, of which 11 million would be generated in universal early childcare services, and 21 million in long-term care. In addition to these benefits, the projected change in the female employment rate would have a significant effect on reducing gender gaps in employment,” the two organizations state in the Bulletin.
In summary, the ILO and ECLAC recommend:
- Promoting ratification and implementation of international labor standards on care, including the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), in accordance with the Resolution concerning decent work and the care economy of the 112th International Labour Conference.
- Progressively adopt all measures needed to ensure that States, as rights guarantors, speed up effective implementation of the Regional Gender Agenda, in particular the Buenos Aires Commitment, adopted by ECLAC member States at the XV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in 2022.
- Align the countries’ maternity leave regulations with the international standards laid out in Convention No. 183 and guarantee this effective right for all women working in the formal or informal sectors in a progressive, universal and supportive manner.
- Recognize and expand the right to paid, non-transferrable paternal leave paid for by social security.
- Promote implementation in the region of regulatory frameworks that establish unalienable non-transferable paternal leave that is unbiased and guarantees that all fathers and mothers can exercise their right to care for their children during their first few months of life, without fear of losing their jobs or income.
- Design and implement types of long-term and emergency leave that make it possible to extend care leave for children and other family members, including persons with serious illnesses, persons with disabilities and older persons that need support and care, including strategies such as collective bargaining and learning from good practices already developed by companies.
- Ensure adequate funding for benefits related to maternity, paternity and parental leave, as well as leave for long-term care or urgent reasons, in order to ensure effective access to these rights and avoid situations of discrimination or disincentive to exercise this right.
- Through social dialogue, create care policy specific to each country according to life cycle needs, including time off (leave), benefits (income security), access to services and the exercise of rights, thereby promoting gender equality and decent work.
The post ILO – ECLAC call for strengthening care policies in Latin America and the Caribbean appeared first on Caribbean News Global.