The Inter-American Commission of Women Launches an Inter-American Model Law on Caregiving for #8M
Admin GHRTV
03-03-2022
Camilla Souza
Women’s Rights Researcher,
Global Human Rights Defence.
The social organization of care work and the place that women occupy today are the result of a long history that began with the introduction of industrial capitalism. The sexual division of labor, based on the idea of women as unskilled labor, was fundamental to the transition to liberal capitalism and, consequently, the "imprisonment" of women in the home. In this context, not only has the state's responsibility for providing daily care been removed, but also the care of children, the elderly and the sick has been assigned to women.
Care work is not even considered a job, but an expression of maternal sentiment and, in this, gender roles play an important role, making invisible the unpaid work that sustains the global economy.
With the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the universal campaign #StayAtHome, it has become visible that it is also women who have been responsible for sustaining families and their communities, putting at risk, even more, their possibilities of (re)insertion into the labor market and maintaining their condition of dependence.
The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM/OAS) will launch on March 8, 2022, the Inter-American Model Law on Caregiving, calling for the redefining of care in both the public and private spheres.
The launch of the Model Law can be viewed live on CIM's Facebook page:bit.ly/35HTOIn
Sources and Further Reading:
Inter-American Commission of Women: COVID-19 in Women’s Lives: Findings and recommendations on the care emergency (2022)
< https://www.oas.org/es/cim/docs/CuidadosCOVID19-Hallazgos-EN.pdf >
Inter-American Commission of Women: COVID-19 in Women’s Lives: The Global Care Emergency (2020)
