Social movements for the development of public care systems in Latin America

Contribution to the Perspectives series by Jana Vasil'eva Jana Vasil'eva is the founder of the Care Network in Mexico and an active member of Yo Cuido México, which is made up of organisations, groups, feminist activists, care workers and academics interested in building a social justice agenda that puts care at its centre. If you want to learn more about the politicisation of care in Mexico, we invite you to take a look here: 24/7. De la reflexión. la acción, por un Mexico que Cuida (PDF, Spanish)[caption id="attachment_4778" align="alignleft" width="522"] Photo: Taller de diseño Traficantes de Sueños. Published under Creative Commons licence by ONU Mujeres/Allison J. Petrozziello[/caption] Latin America is a region characterised by strong social inequality. Inequality has many faces: the wealth of a very few versus the poverty of the many, a lack of educational opportunities - because education is expensive in Latin America - inadequate and fragmented healthcare systems and non-existent social security systems. Added to this are racism, violence, particularly against women, indigenous people, Afro-Latinas/os or members of sexual minorities, as well as a high level of crime. Strong migration movements from Central America and Mexico to the USA and from Venezuela to Colombia, Chile or Peru are not least a consequence of the diverse social problems that affect the living conditions of large sections of the population. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the social invisibility of care work in the economies of the Latin American region in an unprecedented way and highlighted the precariousness of paid care workers and the central importance of unpaid care work. As a result, social and public debates on the right to care are intensifying. At the same time, combating inequality inevitably requires addressing one of the most fundamental and invisible pillars of society: the care economy. Interesting developments can currently be observed here, as the region is also the pioneer of the Global South in the endeavour to introduce public care systems. The approach in the development of care systems is to create a harmonised range of care services and infrastructure and to provide social time for care. The long-term vision is to establish universally accessible social livelihood systems. Uruguay laid the foundations for this in 2015 and many countries are now following suit: Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, for example, are currently analysing and discussing how such systems could be introduced in the context of these significantly populous countries and complex economies.Politicisation of care in MexicoIn Mexico, care is not recognised as a right. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the population aged 12 and over spends half of their total working time on unpaid labour, i.e. 2.796 million hours per week. The people who do this work do not receive a salary for this work, they have no labour rights or social security, they receive no training, neither their physical, mental and emotional health nor sufficient rest and time for leisure are granted to them as a right. Three quarters of the labour time spent on these tasks in the country is done by women, girls and young people; even more if they live in precarious living conditions. A movement of activists, politicians, academics and collectives is bringing care issues into the public and political debate. It has achieved that the right to care and time was enshrined in the constitution of Mexico City in 2018. This historic step encouraged a broader movement "for a Mexico that cares" (Spanish: "Por un México que cuide"). In 2019, the collective Yo Cuido México was consolidated, bringing together unpaid care workers from different states of the republic. This collective is part of a trans-regional movement with a presence in Chile and Peru. 10 November 2019 was a historic day in the struggle for the right to care. On this day, hundreds of people organised demonstrations in various cities in these countries to raise their political voices and make care work visible and demand their right to a good life. Since then, important achievements have been made: In the case of Mexico, theCoalition for theRight to Care with Dignity and in One's Own Time ("Coalición por el Derecho al Cuidado Digno y Tiempo Propio"), an alliance of care workers, activists, feminists, academics and civil society organisations, was formed in December 2019 to initiate a reform of the national constitution. On 18 November 2020, Parliament unanimously approved the reform of the fourth and 73rd articles of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States to give constitutional effect to the right to care and own time and to initiate the creation of a National Care System. At the same time, several alliances are organising spaces for reflection and resonance in order to promote changes in the conception and practice of care as a social, collective and indispensable matter. Among other things, Escucha con Cuidado is politicising care by making the voices of unpaid care workers heard - because putting care at the centre means recognising that care policy is developed from practice. This means that the social reorganisation of care should not be a purely theoretical process. Rather, it requires a broad social dialogue and committed listening on the part of all those involved. The experience and knowledge of the people who carry out intensive care work today are indispensable for building a society based on solidarity.

These horizons for action are full of challenges and there is a constant risk of regression. As I write these lines, Latin America is still in an emergency situation due to the pandemic. Economies are being hit by an unprecedented health crisis and many governments in the Latin American region are cutting back on public spending in response to the economic crisis. Uruguay's fledgling care system is at a critical point and could be dissolved. It is already becoming apparent that women are using their time and their bodies to cushion the deepening of the crisis through unpaid care work inside and outside the household in order to maintain social reproduction. In this sense, the struggle for public care systems is not a one-off issue, but part of a historical struggle that is being waged in different ways and in different regions; a feminist struggle against social inequalities and for societies based on solidarity in which the preservation of life takes centre stage.#PorUnMéxicoQueCuide