This document analyzes the progressive incorporation of care into the legal and regulatory frameworks of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, in light of the commitments made by governments within the framework of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The commitments undertaken over these 45 years have given rise to a robust Regional Gender Agenda that recognizes women’s rights and gender equality as central and transversal elements of all state actions aimed at strengthening democracy and enabling a new style of sustainable development with equality.
Achieving this requires progress in recognizing and implementing the human right to care as a universal right, and ensuring its proper exercise. The role of parliaments in the region is fundamental in designing legal mechanisms and policies to ensure citizens can claim this right (Pautassi, 2007). From a human rights perspective, the concept of the right to care is introduced as a right that states must guarantee, protect, and respect in order to untangle the structural knots of gender inequality.
First, the document analyzes international human rights instruments and references to care issues at the constitutional level in the countries of the region. It then provides an overview of national regulatory frameworks and laws on comprehensive care systems, maternity, paternity, and parental leave, breastfeeding protection laws, and care service regulations. For this purpose, it uses the information available in the repository of laws and regulations on care maintained by the Gender Equality Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean (OIG). This repository provides official information from the member states of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and facilitates the monitoring of international agreements on women’s rights.
