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DISCUSSION PAPER ARE GOVERNMENTS CATCHING UP? Work-family policy and inequality in Latin America No. 7, September 2015 MERIKE BLOFIELD AND JULIANA MARTÍNEZ FRANZONI FOR PROGRESS OF THE WORLD’S WOMEN 2015-2016
The UN Women discussion paper series is a new initiative led by the Research and Data section. The series features research commissioned as background papers for publications by leading researchers from different national and regional contexts. Each paper benefits from an anonymous external peer review process before being published in this series. This paper has been produced for the UN Women flagship report Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016 by Merike Blofield, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Miami and Juliana Martínez Franzoni, Associate Professor, University of Costa Rica (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Sociales). Both authors are equal contributors. The authors would like to acknowledge Diana de Leon for invaluable research assistance on the paper including data collection regionally and in Costa Rica; Felipe Sterquino Itaborai for assistance on data collection on Brazil; and Maria Alcántara for assistance on data collection on Chile. Silke Staab provided valuable feedback on a previous version of this article. The analysis also reflects insights from Beatriz Magaloni, Esther Mancebo, Carmen Midaglia, Jennifer Pribble, Soledad Salvador and Juan Diego Trejos. However, the authors accept responsibility for any errors. © 2015 UN Women. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-63214-026-5 The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of UN Women, the United Nations or any of its affiliated organizations. Produced by the Research and Data Section Editor: Christina Johnson Design: dammsavage studio
DISCUSSION PAPER ARE GOVERNMENTS CATCHING UP? Work-family policy and inequality in Latin America No. 7, September 2015 MERIKE BLOFIELD AND JULIANA MARTÍNEZ FRANZONI FOR PROGRESS OF THE WORLD’S WOMEN 2015-2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY/RÉSUMÉ/RESUMEN i
1. POSITIVE CHANGES IN THE CONTEXT
of DEEP INEQUALITIES 1
2. CHARTING POLICY REFORMS ON PARENTAL
LEAVES AND CARE SERVICES:
ANALYTICAL TOOLS 4
2.1 Defining care policies that help reconcile work and family 4
2.2 Types of care policies that help reconcile work and family 5
2.3 Maternalism, co-responsibility and social equity:
The implications of policy design 6
2.4 Measurement Issues 9
3. EMPIRICAL OVERVIEW:
LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS 11
3.1 Employment-based leaves 11
3.1.1. Case Studies of Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay 14
3.2 Care services 17
3.2.1. Case Studies of Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica
and Uruguay 24
4. SUMMARY AND TENTATIVE EXPLANATORY
FACTORS 28
5. RESEARCH AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS 31
REFERENCES 32SUMMARY
The position of women in Latin America has dramati- We find that during the past decade care policies
cally changed over the past two decades as millions entered the agenda of governments much more
have entered the labour force, often better educated forcefully than before. Overall, the region is moving in
than their male counterparts; family composition has an equity-enhancing direction, particularly in terms
changed; and fertility rates have declined. Yet, these of social equity, both in employment-based leaves
changes have taken place against a backdrop of tre- and in care services. In employment-based leaves,
mendous socio-economic inequalities and relative there have been initiatives to include more vulner-
inertia in gender relations and care responsibilities. able female workers in maternity coverage and also
Over the past decade, governments across the re- to increase the length of maternity leaves, sometimes
gion have, albeit slowly, begun to grapple with these explicitly linked to breastfeeding. Where we see less
changes and their socio-economic implications. This movement, in both framing and in policy adoption, is
paper examines government policies toward the toward more paternal co-responsibility in the care of
crucial nexus of work-family reconciliation, focusing children. While Chile and Uruguay have recently insti-
on employment-based leaves and early childhood tuted shared parental leaves (which is a regional first
education and care (ECEC) services. aside from Cuba), serious efforts to include fathers in
the conversation are still in their infancy.
We start by discussing the socio-economic context
in Latin America and then outline our conceptualiza- In terms of care services, almost all Latin American
tion and measurement of parental leaves and care countries have begun to pay lip service to the need to
services and the implications of policy design for establish national-level ECEC programmes, especially
gender and social equity. We categorize both leave for more vulnerable families. While the framing tends
policies and care services according to whether they to focus on children – and is often part of national ac-
promote maternalism, paternal co-responsibility, tion plans to address infancy – it has taken place against
state co-responsibility and/or socio-economic eq- the backdrop of extant (if minimal) programmes that
uity. We chart the policy reforms across the region are mostly full time, in recognition of the needs of
in both maternity, paternity and parental leaves and working mothers specifically. In virtually all countries,
ECEC services, focusing especially on services for demand far outstrips supply, and the big challenge
0–3-year-old children. To illuminate regional trends from the point of view of work-family reconciliation is
and best practices, we provide more detailed case to extend coverage while maintaining (or extending)
studies of policy reforms in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica full-time hours. This requires a resource commitment
and Uruguay. that few countries have to date assumed.
RÉSUMÉ
La condition de la femme en Amérique latine a consi- diminué. Toutefois, ces changements sont intervenus
dérablement changé au cours de ces deux dernières dans un contexte marqué par d’énormes disparités
décennies : des millions d’entre elles ont intégré le socioéconomiques et une relative inertie dans les
marché du travail, avec un niveau d’instruction sou- rapports hommes-femmes et les responsabilités en
vent supérieur à celui des hommes, la composition matière de soins. Au cours de la dernière décennie, les
des familles a changé et les taux de fécondité ont gouvernements de la région ont entrepris, bien que
Are Governments Catching Up? ilentement, à examiner ces changements et leurs im- qui concerne les congés professionnels que les ser-
plications socioéconomiques. Ce document examine vices de soins. S’agissant des congés professionnels, des
les politiques gouvernementales qui permettent de initiatives ont été lancées pour permettre à plus de tra-
concilier vie professionnelle et vie familiale en se con- vailleuses vulnérables de bénéficier des prestations de
centrant sur les congés professionnels et les services maternité, et pour accroître la durée des congés de ma-
d’éducation et de soins de la petite enfance (SESPE). ternité, avec parfois un lien explicite avec l’allaitement.
En revanche, nous constatons des avancées moindres
Nous commençons par examiner le contexte so- tant en ce qui concerne l’élaboration que l’adoption
cioéconomique en Amérique latine, puis nous de politiques vers le renforcement de la corespon-
présentons notre conception et notre manière de sabilité paternelle dans l’éducation des enfants. Si le
mesurer les congés parentaux et les services de soins, Chili et l’Uruguay ont récemment institué les congés
ainsi que les implications des politiques en faveur de parentaux partagés (une première dans la région à
l’égalité des sexes et de l’équité sociale. Nous clas- l’exception de Cuba), les efforts visant à renforcer le rôle
sons les politiques relatives aux congés et services des pères restent timides.
de soins en fonction de leur degré de promotion
du maternalisme, de la coresponsabilité paternelle, S’agissant des services de soins, presque tous les pays
de la coresponsabilité de l’État et/ou de l’équité so- d’Amérique latine ont commencé à reconnaître les
cioéconomique. Nous passons en revue les réformes mérites des programmes de SESPE au niveau national,
politiques menées dans la région concernant les particulièrement pour les familles plus vulnérables,
congés de maternité, de paternité et parentaux ainsi sans toutefois traduire leurs intentions en actes.
que les services SESPE en nous concentrant spéciale- Si ces politiques tendent à se concentrer sur les en-
ment sur les services destinés aux enfants de moins fants et s’inscrivent souvent dans des plans d’action
de 3 ans. Afin de mettre en exergue les tendances nationaux en faveur de l’enfance, elles font souvent
régionales et les meilleures pratiques, nous fournis- partie intégrante de programmes existants (même
sons des études de cas plus détaillées des réformes minimaux), généralement à temps plein, reconnais-
politiques menées au Brésil, au Chili, au Costa Rica et sant les besoins spécifiques des mères qui travaillent.
en Uruguay. Dans pratiquement tous les pays, la demande sur-
passe de loin l’offre, et le principal défi du point de
Nous concluons que, durant la dernière décennie, vue de la conciliation de la vie professionnelle et de
les politiques relatives aux soins ont été inscrites la vie familiale consiste à étendre les prestations tout
aux programmes publics avec une conviction accrue. en maintenant (ou en augmentant) le plein temps. Il
Globalement, la région évolue dans le sens de l’égalité, faut, pour ce faire, consentir des ressources que peu de
particulièrement sur le plan social, aussi bien en ce pays ont consenties à ce jour.
RESUMEN
La posición de las mujeres en América Latina ha inercia en las relaciones de género y en las responsabi-
cambiado radicalmente en los dos últimos decenios. lidades de cuidados. A lo largo de la década pasada, los
Millones de mujeres se han incorporado a la población gobiernos de la región han comenzado (lentamente)
activa, a menudo con un nivel educativo superior al de a afrontar estos cambios y sus consecuencias socio-
sus homólogos masculinos; además, la composición económicas. En este artículo se analizan las políticas
familiar se ha alterado y las tasas de fecundidad han gubernamentales que abordan el nexo crucial de la
disminuido. Sin embargo, estos cambios han tenido conciliación entre la vida familiar y la laboral, centrán-
lugar en un contexto de tremendas desigualdades dose en las licencias laborales y en los servicios de
socioeconómicas y caracterizado por una relativa educación y cuidados para la primera infancia.
Are Governments Catching Up? iiPartimos de una exposición del contexto socio- de las licencias de maternidad, una medida que en
económico en América Latina para, a continuación, ocasiones se ha vinculado explícitamente a la lactan-
describir nuestra conceptualización y medición de cia. Los aspectos en los que no se observa un cambio
las licencias parentales y los servicios de cuidados, de dirección tan claro, tanto en la formulación como
así como las implicaciones que tiene el diseño de en la adopción de políticas, son los relacionados con la
las políticas desde la perspectiva de género y de la corresponsabilidad parental en el cuidado de las hijas
equidad social. Las políticas en materia de licencias y y los hijos. Pese a que Chile y el Uruguay han institu-
los servicios de cuidados se clasifican atendiendo a si cionalizado recientemente las licencias parentales
fomentan un sistema maternalista, la corresponsabi- compartidas (convirtiéndose en los primeros países
lidad de ambos cónyuges, la corresponsabilidad del de la región en hacerlo, aparte de Cuba), los esfuerzos
Estado y/o la equidad socioeconómica. Seguidamente, dirigidos a incluir a los padres en el debate se encuen-
las reformas emprendidas en toda la región se cat- tran aún en fase embrionaria.
egorizan en licencias de maternidad, paternidad y
parentales y servicios de educación y cuidados para En lo que atañe a los servicios de cuidados, casi todos
la primera infancia, prestando especial atención a los los países de América Latina han comenzado a incluir
servicios dirigidos a niñas y niños de 0 a 3 años de en su discurso la necesidad de establecer programas
edad. Con el fin de poner de relieve las tendencias y de educación y cuidados para la primera infancia a
las mejores prácticas regionales, proporcionamos una escala nacional, en especial para las familias más vul-
serie de estudios de casos más detallados sobre las nerables. Si bien la formulación de políticas tiende a
reformas de las políticas acometidas en el Brasil, Chile, centrarse en las hijas y los hijos –y a menudo forma
Costa Rica y el Uruguay. parte de los planes nacionales de apoyo a la infancia–,
se ha producido ante un telón de fondo de programas
El estudio concluye que, durante el último decenio, ya en curso (aunque muy escasos), que, en su may-
las políticas en materia de cuidados irrumpieron en oría, se ejecutan a tiempo completo, reconociendo
la agenda de los gobiernos con mucha más fuerza de manera específica las necesidades de las madres
que en el pasado. En términos generales, la región ha que trabajan de forma remunerada. En prácticamente
tomado claramente la senda de la mejora de la equi- todos los países, la demanda supera ampliamente
dad, sobre todo en lo que se refiere a la equidad social, la oferta, y el gran reto para la conciliación entre la
tanto en las licencias laborales como en los servicios vida familiar y la laboral es la ampliación de la cobe-
de cuidados. En lo que concierne a las licencias labo- rtura manteniendo (o incrementando) los horarios a
rales, se han llevado a cabo iniciativas encaminadas a jornada completa. Esto requiere un compromiso de
incluir a las trabajadoras más vulnerables en la cobe- dotación de recursos que, hasta el momento, solo ha
rtura por maternidad y también a ampliar la duración sido asumido por un reducido número de países.
Are Governments Catching Up? iii1.
POSITIVE CHANGES IN
THE CONTEXT OF DEEP
INEQUALITIES
The position of women in Latin America has dramatically changed since 1990 as millions have
entered the labour force, often better educated than their male counterparts; family composi-
tion has changed; and fertility rates have declined. Yet, these changes have taken place against
a backdrop of tremendous socio-economic inequalities and relative inertia in gender relations
and care responsibilities. Over the past decade, governments across the region have, albeit
slowly, begun to grapple with these changes and their socio-economic implications. In this
paper we examine government policies towards the crucial nexus of work-family reconciliation,
focusing on employment-based leaves and early childhood education and care (ECEC) services.
What we see in the region is an emphasis on reaching, and targeting, poor families, with a par-
ticular focus on children. There is also a recognition of the changing roles of mothers, although
less attempts to seriously include fathers in the conversation.
Below, we discuss first the socio-economic context in replacement level (ECLAC 2009, 2010). Family composi-
Latin America and our conceptualization and mea- tion has also become increasingly diversified: there are
surement of parental leaves and care services and the currently more dual earner families than families orga-
implications of policy design for gender and social nized around a male breadwinner, and female-headed
equity. We then chart the policy reforms across the families have consistently increased across countries,
region on both leaves and ECEC services and discuss from 23 per cent of households two decades ago to 30
the cases of Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay in per cent by the late 2000s (ILO/UNDP 2009).
more detail. The combination of change and continu-
ity that we are witnessing in Latin America across a Along with these changes, we see some enduring con-
demographically, economically and socially diverse tinuities. Despite higher levels of education, women
region makes it of potential global interest, particu- regionally still earn only 70 per cent of what men
larly to middle-income countries. earn. Ironically, the more years of formal education
attained, the larger the income gap women experi-
In 1990, 32 out of every 100 women had a paid job ence with their male counterparts. In addition, as we
and by 2010 there were already more women in than would expect in a region with the highest income
outside the labour force: 53 out of every 100. Still inequalities in the world, changes in women`s lives
more impressive is the generational change: among are deeply stratified along socio-economic lines: the
women of childbearing age the figure reaches 70 gap in female labour participation between the lowest
per cent. Meanwhile, women´s educational levels and highest quintiles reaches, on average, 30 per cent.
have increased, now surpassing those of men, and Because female labour participation is biased against
fertility rates have declined to close to or even below low-income women – and the sexual division of labour
Are Governments Catching Up? 1between women and men plays a key factor behind or reduce their hours (see, for example, Chioda 2011;
this bias – it becomes very difficult to separate class Blofield and Madalozzo 2013; Hallman et al. 2005).
from gender inequalities. Meanwhile, wealthy families hire domestic workers;
indeed, about 15 per cent of the urban female labour
The participation of women in the labour market, force is employed in paid domestic work, making it
then, remains unequal to men and unequal along a dominant mode of care resolution in the region
class lines among women. One key factor behind (CEPAL 2009, 2012).
both of these faces of inequality is the unequal
division of family responsibilities that pervades not Low-income women`s inability to participate in the
just Latin America but the developing world (Razavi paid labour market reduces the wages of already
2007). Time-use surveys indicate that care work low-income households and therefore tends to ag-
continues to be carried out mostly within the family gravate social inequalities and poverty (ECLAC 2009;
and to fall heavily on women even when they par- UNDP and ILO 2009). Also, when they do participate,
ticipate in the workforce, producing the so-called poor women have less labour protections than
‘double burden’ or ‘care squeeze’ (UNDP and ILO wealthier women, mostly because they tend to be
2009; CEPAL 2009; ECLAC 2010). This has an impact self-employed or in unprotected occupations such
on women’s ability to participate in the labour force as paid domestic work. For example, while just under
on an equal footing with men. For example, care half (47 per cent) of the total working population
responsibilities pose barriers to joining the formal lacked pension protections as of 2008, three quarters
sector; work interruptions for child-rearing have of paid domestic workers lacked them (ILO 2010).
negative effects on earnings and human capital; In addition, in the case of paid domestic work, until
and access to pensions and other forms of social recently most countries in the region also legally dis-
protections is diminished, increasing women’s risk criminated against them by, for example, mandating
of falling into poverty as they age compared to men longer legal work hours, making it especially difficult
(see Filgueira et al. 2011; Martínez Franzoni 2008; for this vulnerable group to attend to their own care
Martínez Franzoni and Voorend 2009, 2011). Indeed, responsibilities (Blofield 2012). Last but not least,
women are over-represented in informal labour many of these trends are exacerbated in female-
markets, both salaried and self-employed, including headed households, where women bear the burden
in part-time jobs and small firms that are unregu- of income provision and care alone.
lated and lack social protections such as maternity
leave (Gerecke 2013; ILO 2012). Only 36 per cent of Within this context, public policies can make a
women in urban areas have social security, while 49 tremendous difference. As several international orga-
per cent of men do (UNDP and ILO 2009). nizations have recently stressed, the current situation
represents both a challenge and an opportunity for
Given the high socio-economic inequalities and the Latin American countries (UNDP and ILO 2009; Sojo/
lack of affordable care services in the region, the ‘dou- CEPAL 2011; Montaño Virreira/CEPAL 2010; Chioda/
ble burden’ is also unevenly distributed across classes. World Bank 2011). For example, coverage of ECEC
The higher up women are in the social structure, – recognized as a key factor in influencing equal op-
the more they can outsource their responsibilities portunities over the medium and long term (OECD
without much effect on their working lives, while 2012; Nadeau et al. 2011) as well as enabling mothers
the lower-income population – especially women – to remain in the labour force – is currently still low
have a hard time maintaining their relationship to but way higher among the better off than among the
the labour market and thus their earnings potential. poor (UNDP and ILO 2009). Without public provision,
The less well-off rely on informal care networks poor children of working parents are much less likely
(paid and unpaid, and mostly composed of extended to receive good care whereas the well-off can pay for
family and neighbours) when they are able to do so, it, exacerbating both economic and gender inequi-
but they are often forced to leave the labour force ties, with harmful effects on medium- and long-term
Are Governments Catching Up? 2macroeconomic performance given the impact on in two thirds of the 18 countries in the region (Cornia
women’s earning power and on the human capital 2010; ECLAC 2010; López-Calva and Lustig 2011).
of future generations. Similarly, parental leaves are
essential but will also exacerbate class and gender The one type of policy that pervades the region and
inequalities if they do not reach low-income parents has had significant re-distributive effects is the much-
in the labour force. touted conditional cash transfer (CCT) that, in the form
of various programmes, now reaches over 100 million
Policies on gender, the labour force and the family in people. These cash transfers are aimed at interrupting
the region have until recently been premised on the the intergenerational reproduction of poverty by con-
assumption that caregiving is a private matter, with ditioning transfers on children´s school attendance
the implicit expectation of a traditional family with a and health check-ups. They tend to target poor moth-
breadwinner father, a stay-at-home mother, perhaps ers without an income of their own. As such, the only
a grandmother or unmarried aunt and, certainly in possible reconciliation between work and family they
the case of legislators responsible for contemplating promote is one that relies on the traditional division
these issues, a nanny, with no need for a state role in of labour between women and men.
care provision. In few countries are such assumptions
any longer in accordance with the social reality for a Luckily these are not the only policy innovations the
majority of the population (if they ever were), yet the region has witnessed during the past decade. Here,
changing realities have been slow to appear on the we examine two policies that are at the intersection
radar of policy makers (see CEPAL 2009; Heymann between work, family and care: employment-based
2006). With adequate policies, however, governments leaves and full-time ECEC services. These are two criti-
have an opportunity to both reduce gender and social cal and complementary measures that most policy
inequalities and promote socio-economic develop- changes have focused on and that have significant
ment more broadly. potential to be equity enhancing along both socio-
economic and gender lines.
During the past decade, Latin American social policies
have undergone considerable change, beginning to The following section provides our analytic lens. Then
address old social risks (such as sickness and old age) the paper overviews regional trends in Latin America
among people previously excluded as well as new on parental leave and care services, with regard to
social problems (such as more diverse, smaller and both policy design and implementation. Following
dual-earning families). Indeed, along with an increase regional trends we focus on a number of case stud-
in average wages and lower returns to higher educa- ies of best practices in a selection of Latin American
tion, social policy is one of the primary changes that countries. As we depict policy change, we explore the
have helped reduce income inequalities. For the first key political and social actors involved in the policy
time ever, these have declined (even if only slightly) process. We conclude with policy implications.
Are Governments Catching Up? 32.
CHARTING POLICY
REFORMS ON PARENTAL
LEAVES AND CARE
SERVICES: ANALYTICAL
TOOLS
Below we provide a more precise definition of the types of policies we address in this paper. Not
all care policies help reconcile work and family, nor are all policies that reconcile work and family
care policies. Part-time preschool and public transportation, respectively, are cases in point. In
addition, reconciling work and family involves various ways of intervening and navigating their
complex interaction. As with any other policies, care policies that reconcile work and family have
implications for social and gender equity – both intended and unintended – that must be disen-
tangled. Below, we categorize both leave policies and care services according to whether they
promote maternalism, paternal co-responsibility, state co-responsibility and/or socio-economic
equity (Blofield and Martínez Franzoni 2015). We wrap up the section with measurement issues.
2.1
Defining care policies that help reconcile work and family
A vast literature on advanced industrialized countries America alike provide valuable insights concerning
addresses the way constellations of government how policy promotes or discourages the traditional di-
policies influence socio-economic inequalities. Esping- vision of labour between women and men, both within
Andersen´s 1990 identification of three worlds of the household and in the labour force. For example,
welfare capitalism has been highly influential in the they address eligibility criteria as mothers, workers
literature. A key contribution was the importance and citizens, and the implications such criteria have for
given to the political determinants and structural female participation in the labour force. Some of the
implications of policies based on needs, contribution most influential regime typologies include Lewis’ (1992)
and citizenship as distinct eligibility criteria. Within ‘strong male breadwinner’ and ‘weak male breadwin-
this broad framework, a significant body of research ner’ types, Sainsbury’s (1996) ‘universal breadwinner’
addresses how states intervene in gendered ways, and ‘individual’ model, Fraser’s (1994) ‘breadwinner’
influencing how markets and families are organized. A versus ‘caregiver’ model, Gornick and Meyers’ (2003)
number of typologies for developed countries and Latin ‘dual-earner/dual-carer model’ and Orloff’s (2006) and
Are Governments Catching Up? 4Molyneux’s (2007) discussion of maternalism, the lat- state-led and non-state, informal welfare regimes in
ter specifically regarding Latin America. the region. Indeed, in these typologies, both authors
pay much attention to informal labour relations, an
The basic gist of regime typologies with a gendered per- issue that the typologies on advanced industrialized
spective is the extent to which States promote gender countries overlook. They thus leave the door open to
equality by encouraging the employment of mothers address work/family relations, paying attention to the
and, more recently, the sharing of care responsibilities highly stratified features of these labour relations.
between parents (for example, through provision of
adequate parental and paternity leaves and full-time In short, the literature stresses that policies recon-
day care) versus traditional families with the husband ciling work-family relations may or may not have
at work and wife at home (for example, by scant pro- equity-enhancing effects. As the literature on ad-
vision of day care and subsidization of stay-at-home vanced industrialized countries has made clear, if
mothers). With the unrelenting increases in women’s policies aim at supporting women to combine more
labour force participation rates and declines in fertility, effectively their roles as workers and mothers while
even reticent governments in advanced industrialized women remain solely responsible for caretaking, they
countries have been jolted into action and are increas- reinforce the traditional sexual division of labour
ingly converging in the recognition that women will rather than promote gender equity. As the literature
work outside the home and need supportive policies on Latin America has stressed, if policies are restricted
if they are also to have children (Fleckenstein and Lee to salaried formal workers in a region with a highly
2014; Morgan 2013). Countries still diverge in the extent stratified labour market, they reinforce rather than
to which they seek to involve fathers and the state in help transcend socio-economic inequalities.
sharing care responsibilities.
These typologies have been enormously useful in
For Latin America a pioneering contribution by assessing the general policy mixes for comparative
Filgueira (1998) stresses the socio-economic bases of purposes. However, their focus on regimes rather than
social policy regimes, while more recent work incorpo- on specific policies overlooks a robust literature show-
rates the gendered basis as well (Martínez Franzoni ing that policy change is largely issue-specific. Their
2008). Adapting Esping-Andersen’s work to Latin focus on regimes also makes it difficult to disentangle
America, Filgueira identifies the relative roles that the socio-economic and gender implications of policies
need, contribution and citizenship play in people´s (Hook 2006). Studies that look at policy issues help
access to social policy across the region. Martínez overcome this problem (Ray et al. 2010; Kittilson 2008;
Franzoni, on the other hand, incorporates the promi- Lambert 2008; Morgan 2009; Weldon 2011). Our typol-
nent role that unpaid work and families play across ogy is a contribution in this same direction that, unlike
welfare regimes. As such, her typology makes a clas- most comparative available analysis, simultaneously
sification concerning the gendered implications of addresses gender and socio-economic implications.1
2.2
Types of care policies that help reconcile work and family
Tensions between work and family take different and unpaid. Policies can reshape these tensions in dif-
forms, from those requiring time off paid work to ferent ways2 (Durán 2004). First, policies can reshape
those involving a daily reorganization of tasks, paid work and family relations by sequencing time devoted
to work and time devoted to care responsibilities
1 For an example of studies of specific national cases that com-
bine class and gender, see Faur 2008. 2 This section draws heavily on Blofield and Martínez Franzoni 2015.
Are Governments Catching Up? 5while maintaining care provision within the family. American welfare regimes and Orloff 2009 for a dis-
Sequential policies include those concerning maternity, cussion of the concept). These refer to benefits (both
paternity and parental leave, flexible work time and transfers and services) that shift the responsibility for
part-time work. The sequencing can last months and care provision from families and women to the state in
involve many work days (as in maternity leave) or last the form of either direct public provision, funding private
hours within a single work day or week (as in part-time provision or laws for employer provision, tax incentives
or flexible work time measures). These policies have or subsidies for market provision. Such policies include
traditionally focused on women and initially had goals employer mandates on day care, public or subsidized
other than reconciling work and family (basically, pro- provision of day care, extension of school days and after-
tecting the health of the mother and baby), but they school programmes. As with sequential policies, these
have increasingly begun to include men. Sequential measures have historically often revolved around moth-
policies introduce degrees of freedom between access ers and female workers but have increasingly begun to
to monetary resources through the labour market and extend eligibility based on the child or family income.
income maintenance for caregiving that takes place
during a certain period of time within the family; to In so far as sequential policies and policies that de-
draw on Esping-Andersen, these are measures that familialize care address different types of dynamics
‘decommodify’ access to cash. revolving around care and caregiving, they are comple-
mentary rather than exclusive. A central sequential
Second, policies can ‘defamilialize’ care responsibili- policy is employment-based parental leave and a cen-
ties by shifting them from families towards the state tral defamilializing policy is early child education and
(see Martínez Franzoni 2008 for its application to Latin care (ECEC) services.3
2.3
Maternalism, co-responsibility and social equity:
The implications of policy design
Both leaves and services can reinforce or positively co-responsibility and whether they reinforce or help
alter socio-economic (hereafter, social) and gender overcome social inequalities. 4
inequalities, depending on policy design and imple-
mentation. The intervening factor is eligibility, that is, A well-established literature draws from the clas-
who are entitled to access what on which basis. With sic work of Koven and Michel (1993) on maternalist
this in mind, we classify policies regarding whether policies. These are policies that recognize the impor-
they promote maternalism or paternal and state tance of caregiving and ‘exalt women’s capacity to
mother’ while making it solely or primarily women´s
3 A third way in which policies reshape the interaction between responsibility. Maternalist policies are different from
paid and unpaid work involves government regulatory policies
towards labour overall and care occupations in particular. These policies that establish what we call a ‘maternalist
occupations have historically been seen as unskilled extensions floor’ that acknowledges the role of women in giving
of naturalized female roles, tend to be overwhelmingly female
and are therefore subjected to a ‘care penalty’ (Williams 2009). birth and breastfeeding. A maternity leave that helps
Provided that care (paid and unpaid) involves an emotional con- women recover physically and emotionally as well as
nection between caregivers and those being cared for, labour
market regulations regarding these care occupations are critical
to the status of the care providers (mostly women) as workers largely unregulated cheap labour that, in turn, creates a collective
and thus, in turn, to the type of service performed (see for ex- action problem for countries to come up with either alternative
ample Folbre 1995; Williams 2009). Paid domestic workers are a or complementary services such as early childhood education
paradigmatic case of treatment of workers employed in care oc- and services and services that look after the elderly. Recent policy
cupations, given the dominance of this mode of care resolution changes that grant domestic workers the same basic labour rights
in the region and the unfavourable conditions in which most that other workers have (for example, an eight hour workday) are in
domestic workers have laboured. Paid domestic work feeds into this sense very good news (Blofield 2012).
the notion that home-based care is the best alternative to recon- 4 This section draws heavily on Blofield and Martínez Franzoni
cile work and family. But the reason for its wide availability is its 2014.
Are Governments Catching Up? 6establish routines and bonds with the newborn can altogether on the basis of citizenship or need. If any
be expected as part of such a floor. On the other hand, of the above is the case, we consider that work-family
generous maternity leaves (as opposed to paternity policies enhance social equity.6 For example, public
or shared parental leaves) or subsidizing unpaid care care services that are accessible based on income or
work through a wage for stay-at-home mothers can on a universal basis promote both social and gender
be considered maternalist. Of course, the demarcation equity. This extends to part-time ECEC services that
between these changes over time. For example, in reach lower income families,7 even if they do not, by
1952 the International Labour Organization (ILO) un- our definition, promote state co-responsibility in
derstood regular maternity leaves to involve 12 weeks work-family reconciliation.
(as established in Convention no. 102) but by 2000
this was stretched to 14 weeks (Convention no. 183). Table 2-1 presents leaves broken down according to
their implications for securing a maternalist floor,
Co-responsibility policies face two challenges: they for promoting maternalism or paternal and state
seek to involve states as well as men in caregiving, both co-responsibility and for promoting social equity.
distributing responsibility away from a sole reliance on Sticking to empirical measures that are used in the
mothers. State co-responsibility policies allocate some literature, we divide leaves into three categories: ma-
of the caregiving responsibility to the government by ternity leave (only for mothers), paternity leave (only
providing public ECEC or by subsidizing private ECEC for fathers) and parental leave (shareable between
that corresponds to full-time work hours. If ECEC does parents). Seeking to add analytic value to the empiri-
not take into account a typical work day and is only cal analysis, we further categorize policies according
part-time, the state has assumed co-responsibility in to their implications for gender relations and social
providing education to children (an important goal, equity. With regard to maternity leave, we consider
of course) but not necessarily also in participating in the ILO standard of 14 weeks to be the maternalist
work-family reconciliation. Paternal co-responsibility floor that allows a woman to recuperate after birth,
policies promote sharing of caregiving by incentiviz- start breastfeeding and establish a bond. Leaves be-
ing fathers’ involvement through employment-based yond this standard, if they are restricted only to the
leaves. State co-responsibility policies are ones that mother, we consider maternalist. Leaves that allow
defamilialize care, while policies that promote paternal for sharing we classify as ones that promote paternal
co-responsibility are sequential policies that promote co-responsibility. Extended maternity leaves can be
the reorganization of gender roles among parents. positive in many ways (for example, for breastfeeding)
but even on the rare occasions where these leaves do
In terms of social equity we distinguish, drawing on not endanger women’s labour market reintegration,
Esping-Andersen (1990), between eligibility based on they do not allow for or encourage reorganizing the
needs, contribution or citizenship. Historically, formal distribution of caregiving between women and men.
salaried workers have tended to be protected in Latin As such, they do not promote and in fact deter pater-
America. Taking into account the prominence of infor- nal co-responsibility.
mal relations in Latin American labour markets, we
assess policies on whether they extend protections to
a broader scope of salaried workers (e.g., temporary
workers, domestic workers) and beyond salaried work-
ers to self-employed workers.5 We also assess policies
on whether they extend beyond the labour market
5 In Latin America, labour and social protections reach workers
in various degrees, giving way to a continuum from the most
formal to the most informal arrangements among salaried 6 See Pribble (2013) for a broader discussion of equity-enhancing
workers as well as the self-employed. Rather than giving shape social policies.
to an informal ‘sector’, informality thus becomes a feature that 7 We thank one of our anonymous reviewers for pointing this
cuts across the labour market. out.
Are Governments Catching Up? 7TABLE 2-1
Equity-enhancing effects of employment-based leaves
Policy measure Equity-enhancing effects
Maternalist floor Maternalism Paternal co-responsibility
Maternity leave Maternity leave according to ILO If maternity leave extends If leave beyond ILO standards
standard of 14 weeks8 beyond ILO standard are shareable by parents
Paternity leave Paternity leave of 1-5 days to If none beyond this If paternity leave extends
assist women upon delivery beyond 5 days, with explicit
goal to support male role as
caretakers
Parental leave - - Any shareable parental leave
Social equity If any of the leaves above extend beyond formal salaried workers
Source: Blofield and Martínez Franzoni 2015.
Paternity leaves are not established in international co-responsibility – the more sharing itself is made
agreements. Establishing cut-off points between part of the bargain, the better for co-responsibility.
maternalism and co-responsibility for these is a real Such would be the case if the extension of parental
challenge. On the one hand, there is a real difference leaves is conditional upon men taking a portion of
between a paternity leave that lasts one day and it, as is the case with the ‘daddy months’ in some
another that is nine or 10 days. On the other hand, European countries.
it is hard to make the case that from one to 10 days
the policy actually moves from being maternalist to Parental leaves are not established in ILO
promoting co-responsibility. In this paper we have Conventions. However, recommendations 165 (ILO
therefore opted for relative cut-off points that are 1981b) on workers with family responsibilities and
based on the overall (little) cross-national variance we 191 (ILO 2000b) on maternity protection do refer to
found in Latin America. Thus, we consider paternity them. Recommendation 165 applies to women and
leaves of one to five days, established to allow fathers men workers with dependent children and states
to accompany mothers as they recover from delivery, that, within the period immediately following
as providing a maternalist floor. Any paternity leaves maternity leave, either parent should be granted a
beyond this we consider as promoting paternal co-re- leave while employment and labour rights are safe-
sponsibility. We admit it is a contextual cut-off. Given guarded. Recommendation 191 establishes that
that most paternity leaves are currently minimal or parental leaves are a right of employed mothers
non-existent in Latin America, this cut-off is designed or fathers during a period following the maternity
to capture initial steps to conceive of paternal caregiv- leave. The period, the length and other features of
ing responsibilities in a broader way. In the European the parental leave should be determined by national
context, this cut-off would be less useful given that laws or regulations or in any manner consistent with
most paternity leaves are longer. national practice.
Parental leaves follow maternity and/or paternity Finally, all these measures may be restricted to some
leaves. Any leaves that are shareable between moth- salaried mothers and/or fathers in the formal sector;
ers and fathers we consider as promoting paternal reach all salaried workers (including paid domestic
workers) and/or informal and/or temporary workers;
8 Convention 102 of 1952 established 12 weeks, which was ex- and/or reach parents on the basis of need or as a right.
tended to 14 in 2000.
Are Governments Catching Up? 8The first tends to reproduce social inequalities while additional implications for gender and social equity. We
the latter two promote social equity. classify services that are restricted to mothers as hav-
ing maternalist criteria and those for which fathers are
Table 2-2 outlines the implications of care services for also eligible as encouraging paternal co-responsibility.
maternalism, co-responsibility and social equity. State In addition, these services may reach formal employees
participation in care services can take several forms, from alone or other people as well – for example, people living
regulation to funding and direct or subsidized provision in the same geographical area in which a firm is based.
and/or via employer mandates. Provision of services The former arrangement does not promote social equity
that correspond to typical full-time working hours is an but the latter does, if eligibility criteria are universal or
indicator of state co-responsibility in work-family recon- means-tested, targeting the poor.
ciliation. Beyond this, full-time ECEC services can have
TABLE 2-2
Full-time ECEC services (state co-responsibility): Equity-enhancing effects of eligibility criteria
Equity enhancing effects
Gender equity Social equity
Policy measure
Maternalist criteria Paternal
co-responsibility
Services restricted to Services available to moth- Services reach beyond large
Employer mandates
mothers ers and fathers business firms
Public or subsidized Services restricted to Services available to moth- Services on the basis of need
services mothers ers and fathers or citizenship
Source: Blofield and Martínez Franzoni 2015.
Below we explain how we measure change across more or less equity-enhancing change along gender
time to assess whether the region is moving towards and class lines.
2.4
Measurement issues
Policy design and adoption are separate from have well-established units of measurement: weeks
implementation. That is, once a policy is adopted, and days. These units also allow us to directly com-
implementation may or may not take place. This is pare the length of maternity and paternity leaves. On
related to state capacities (the less the state capacity the other hand, coverage and take-up rates, which al-
the larger the gap between adoption and implemen- low us to assess implementation, are harder data to
tation) and to other factors that must be established. collect systematically and cross-nationally. Moreover,
We therefore discuss both separately. in many cases, learning about take-up rates involves
digging up data in a rather archaeological fashion. A
Concerning leaves, cross-national comparisons of key policy recommendation we would like to empha-
policy adoption are rather straightforward as leaves size – and one that should be relatively easy to put
Are Governments Catching Up? 9in place – is the regular provision of take-up rates by reconciliation. To tap into this, we collect and provide
official agencies, disaggregated by factors such as data on what we conceptualize as the ‘seriousness of
age and income brackets as well as type of salaried state commitment to co-responsibility in childcare’,
and non-salaried labour relation. or, in short hand, as ‘executive policy effort’. This con-
cept includes indicators on policy adoption as well
A systematic assessment of policy adoption on care as elements of implementation. It includes whether
services is more challenging. While we provide data an executive action plan –in virtually all cases, a
on preschool policies and coverage for 4- and 5-year- national action plan regarding infancy – specifies
olds, we focus on the 0–3-year-old age group in this a commitment to increasing daily ECEC services to
paper. We do so because the dominant frame for 0–3-year-olds; whether a national-level ECEC pro-
this group has until recently tended to be that such gramme with funding and with full-time hours exists;
young children should be with their family (that is, the eligibility criteria for such a programme; the size
with their mothers). Hence it is in this group that we of the programme; and whether it reaches over 10 or
can especially measure the seriousness of govern- 5 per cent of 1–2-year-olds. The latter two criteria tap
ment commitment to co-responsibility in work-family into implementation.
Are Governments Catching Up? 103.
EMPIRICAL OVERVIEW:
LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS
Across the region, to summarize, we see efforts over the past decade to have maternity leaves
reach the minimum floor defined by the ILO and to make them accessible to more vulnerable
women (for example, paid domestic workers and temporary rural workers) as well as some
new initiatives to include fathers. Overall, leaves remain overwhelmingly restricted to moth-
ers. Indeed, encouragement of breastfeeding has factored into many debates, which – while
important for other reasons – does not encourage paternal co-responsibility.
Where we see a lot of change is in the expansion of educational concerns are central –as they should be
preschool (usually for 4–5-year-olds) and the estab- – work-family reconciliation has tended to be an im-
lishment of care services for 0–3-year-olds, although plicit concern as well, thus reflecting increased state
demand still far outstrips supply, especially with the co-responsibility. One of the key debates has to do
latter. Regarding preschool, one of the key debates with service delivery: institutional versus communi-
has to do with the age of mandatory attendance, ty-based means. Both services have sought to reach
and much of the expansion is framed in exclusively poor families over the past decade, thus promoting
educational terms. Regarding care services, while social equity.
3.1
Employment-based leaves
Detailed comparative data on leaves is abundant Maternity
(Pautassi and Rico 2011). Here, we focus on the length Figure 3-1 includes fully paid maternity leaves – in
of leaves and eligibility criteria to assess their implica- some cases with caps.9 Several countries have extend-
tions for social and gender equity. Drawing on Table ed maternity leaves that are either partially paid (as in
2-1, Figure 3-1 outlines the length of maternity and pa- Cuba during an additional 40 weeks) or unpaid (as in
ternity leaves across the region. In all cases we focus Argentina, up to 13 weeks). Here we focus on fully paid
on federal policies reaching the overall population and maternity leave – which is the standard in the region –
examine statutory minimums. that reaches either all workers or all salaried workers.
9 Caps are for example set in Chile at 66 unidades de fomento
equivalent to US$2,228 (28 January 2014; http://www.sii.cl/
pagina/valores/uf/uf2014.htm) (Government of Chile 2011).
Even though it is not the subject matter of this paper, it is
worth mentioning that leaves are either funded by social se-
curity (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)),
by employers and social security (Bolivia (Plurinational State of),
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua
and Panama) (CEPAL and UNICEF 2011) or, in the case of Chile, by
a government account set up for that purpose.
Are Governments Catching Up? 11FIGURE 3-1
Latin America: Paid employment-related leaves for salaried workers, in weeks, 2013
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
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(B
Maternity Paternity Either Parent Maternist floor for paternity leaves
Maternalist floor for paternity leaves
Note: *All workers.
Source: Authors’ elaboration.
As many as nine countries are under the maternal- Another key dimension is who is eligible for mater-
ist floor of 14 weeks: Bolivia (Plurinational State of) nity leave, which is key for social equity. Over the past
(8 weeks); Guatemala (11.5); and Argentina, Dominican decades, several countries have sought to include less
Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay formal, more vulnerable female workers in maternity
and Peru (12). The large number of countries with 12 leave coverage. For example, in Argentina domestic
weeks reflects the international standard of 12 weeks workers have been excluded from maternity leave,
up until the year 2000 (in ILO Convention 102). but once a 2013 legal reform is implemented they
will for the first time have the legal right to this. In
Three countries have 14 weeks, reflecting the mater- Brazil, rural and domestic workers gained the legal
nalist floor: Colombia (since 2011), Panama (since 1971) right to maternity leave in 1991, and a court ruling
and Uruguay (since 2013). in 2012 grants the same right to temporary workers.
Countries that granted maternity leave to all work-
Five out of 18 countries in the region exceed the ILO ing mothers in the formal sector by 2013 were Brazil,
standard of 14 weeks: Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico. At least on
of) (26 weeks); Chile (24); Cuba (18); Brazil (120 days, paper these countries include own-account work-
or just over 17 weeks) and Costa Rica (16). Of these ers registered for social security and some of them
countries, the oldest reforms are the shortest (Brazil (such as Costa Rica and Chile) include temporary
and Costa Rica). Thus, more recent reforms tend to workers as well. This is a group of particularly vulner-
push for more rather than less maternalism. able women – often not only poor but also migrants
Are Governments Catching Up? 12– that deserves further study to get to the bottom of awkwardness and complexity of paperwork involved
their actual access to leaves. – and often even concerning eligibility criteria – has
been reported as a major obstacle for women to ac-
Behind legal provisions there is enormous variation cess maternity leaves even among salaried workers. A
regarding implementation and actual coverage. case in point is Colombia, where in a recent discussion
Coverage is related to four distinct factors: (1) legal in which one of us participated, very well-informed
eligibility among workers (such as those between bureaucrats could not agree on whether salaried
salaried and non-salaried); (2) actual take-up rates workers with short-term contracts were insured as
among those workers; (3) how easy it is for people own-account or salaried workers.
to make their claim; and (4) the size of the informal
sector as the background against which policy oper- Paternity
ates. All countries have a coverage gap of some kind As explained in Table 2-1, we consider whether pater-
(between all mothers who work and those who nity leaves are under the maternalist floor (when there
get maternity leave), but the gaps vary a lot across is no paternity leave), reach the maternalist floor (one
countries and over time. Overall, the past decade to five days) or go over the floor (more than five days).
has seen improvements in coverage in general, not In the region, seven countries have no paternity leave
least with increased formalization of the labour and are thus under the floor, eight meet the floor and
force in several South American countries such as only four are above the floor. Empirically, countries fall
Brazil and Uruguay (Martínez Franzoni and Sánchez- into three groups: no statutory leave, between two to
Ancochea 2013). five days or 10–14 days.
For example, in Brazil, the share of all new moth- Among countries under the maternalist floor with no
ers who received maternity leave went from 26 per days of paternity leave granted in a statutory fash-
cent in 2000 to 41 per cent in 2011 (Ministério da ion we find Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras,
Previdência Social 2000;2011). During this same time Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama.
period, occupied rates – that is, those economically
active minus the unemployed – for women between Among those that have a maternalist floor we find
the ages of 25 and 39 years increased only from 63 Brazil and Chile with five days. Fathers in Argentina,
to 66 per cent, while the percentage of this age Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Paraguay have
group registered for social security went up from two days, in Bolivia (Plurinational State of) three and in
21 to 38 per cent (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia Peru four. Since 2013, salaried public and private sector
e Estatística (IBGE)/Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra workers in Uruguay receive 10 days leave. In most cases,
de Domicílios (PNAD) 2011) , Hence, it appears that it is employers who pay for paternity leave.11
a key factor related to the higher take-up rates of
maternity leave in Brazil is more women entering Of those Latin American countries that have statutory
the formal sector rather than entering the labour paternity leaves, only four grant more than five days:
market per se.10 In one survey of 700 low-income par- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 14 days, Ecuador
ents with young children in São Paulo, 50 per cent of and Uruguay 10 days and Colombia eight days. Leaves
working mothers received maternity leave (Blofield in Colombia and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
and Madalozzo 2013). are fully paid by social insurance and in Ecuador by
There is a lack of in-depth studies regarding the 11 This has been cited as a cause of the low take-up rate of pater-
nity leave in Chile, although official statistics on take-up rates
ease with which people can make their claims. The do not exist. The widespread perception is that employees
who take the leave are not viewed favourably in many busi-
10 I n the case of Brazil, since 1991 rural temporary workers nesses (interviews with key social and political actors, July
have the right to maternity leave at minimum wage via the 2013), which is also the case with male workers who take time
Government, so this also increases coverage among women off to go to medical check-ups or school activities (Todaro and
who may not be in the formal sector per se. Yañez 2004).
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