Comments
This priority measure is directly related to priority measure 61, which deals with the shared responsibility of the State, the private sector, the community, families, women and men in unpaid domestic tasks and care work. It also relates to priority measure 31, regarding the inclusion of care and social protection systems, to priority measure 59, regarding the construction of new concepts of masculinity, and to priority measure 64, regarding measurement of the care economy.
Possible lines of action
1. Regulate the basic conditions that guarantee equality of access to care for persons who require it. 2. Develop and implement legal frameworks to establish national systems of care that include all categories of care. 3. Integrate care services as a dimension of social protection systems, allowances, services and benefits. 4. Increase the availability and quality of care systems and, as necessary, of caregivers, by providing training and by affording cultural and economic value to the activity, including by regulating it and giving it professional status. 5. Implement measures to provide caregivers with access to jobs with flexible working hours.
Related instruments, forums and mechanisms
Santo Domingo Consensus, agreements 37 (“Promote improvements in women’s access to decent employment, redistributing care work between the State, market and society, and between men and women, facilitating training and the use of technology, self-employment and business creation in the science and technology sector, and increase the proportion of women in areas where they are underrepresented, for example, in academia and the fields of science and technology, including information and communications technologies”) and 57 (“Recognize care as a right and, therefore, as a responsibility that must be shared by men and women of all sectors of society, and by families, private companies and the State, and adopt measures, policies and programmes on care and on promoting the joint responsibility of women and men in family, working and social life in order to free up women’s time so that they can engage in employment, studies and politics and enjoy their autonomy to the full”).
Brasilia Consensus, agreements 1.b (“Foster the development and strengthening of universal care policies and services based on the recognition of the right to care for all and on the notion of sharing the provision of care between the State, the private sector, civil society and households, as well as between men and women, and of strengthening dialogue and coordination between all stakeholders”) and 1.c (“Adopt policies conducive to establishing or broadening parental leave and other childcare leave in order to help distribute care duties between men and women, including inalienable and non-transferable paternity leave with a view to furthering progress towards coresponsibility”).
Quito Consensus, agreement xxvii, “Adopt the necessary measures, especially of an economic, social and cultural nature, to ensure that States assume social reproduction, caregiving and the well-being of the population as an objective for the economy and as a public responsibility that cannot be delegated”).
Sustainable Development Goals, target 5.4 (“Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies, and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate”).
