What it means, who performs it, and how it is guaranteed in different countries. In this article we give you the key points on care in Chile and the world, based on the presentation of our research director, Josefa Palacios, in the webinar on Caregiver Support of the NODO Project and the UC.
By Gabriela Campillo.
“Care is part of our human condition, inherent to life itself”. With this sentence, MICARE Research Director Josefa Palacios began her presentation as part of the virtual seminar organized by the NODO Project and Universidad Católica, in which our research associate, María Beatriz Fernández, also participated.
How can we understand care? Here are some key points:
Caregiving involves both the promotion of personal autonomy and the care and assistance of dependent persons.
Dependence may be transitory, permanent, or chronic, or associated with people’s life cycle.
Caregiving includes routine, daily, and invisible activities, which supposes a time commitment as well as emotional and affective involvement.
Caregiving sustains human life, and it is we women who assume the lion’s share of this care.
“Caregiving is an essential part of being human and is a universal right. This is the starting point when thinking about policies that address care,” explains our research associate at MICARE and UC Sociology academic, María Beatriz Fernández.
‘If we fail to address the gender perspective in caregiving policy through specific incentives, we will continue to reproduce inequalities. It’s feasible in Chile, but political will is needed to implement a National Care System’.
Josefa Palacios, MICARE research director.
How is care socially organized?
Caregiving needs are resolved through the role of different social stakeholders: the State, the market, the family, and the community. The distribution of responsibilities among these stakeholders is directly linked to the reproduction of social inequalities.
There are 3 major models of care organization in the world: Family, Mixed, and Public.
- In the family model, the family is the caregiver. Public benefits tend to be targeted by income and need.
In a default or unsupported family model, there are no public alternatives or financial support for family care. This is the case in most Latin American countries.
Meanwhile, in a Supported Family model, policies are delivered through financial transfers that support specific family members in maintaining their caregiving responsibilities. This model can be found in countries such as Spain, Greece, and Italy.
- In the mixed model, family is the main caregiver but people with high levels of dependency have access to public services. Access is guaranteed as a right and is based on a social insurance system (as in Germany) or on a public benefit (as in Austria and France).
- In the mixed model, family is the main caregiver but people with high levels of dependency have access to public services. Access is guaranteed as a right and is based on a social insurance system (as in Germany) or on a public benefit (as in Austria and France).
What are the challenges for Chile in terms of caregiving? MICARE proposes the 5 Rs:
– Recognize care work
– Reduce it
– Redistribute it in order to move towards a fair social organization of caregiving
– Remunerate caregiving adequately
– Represent the voice of the stakeholders
The Constituent Process is an opportunity to advance this agenda (but not the only one!)
“In Chile, there is still everything to be done in terms of caregiving, and we should not wait for others to do it. We can all contribute to a fairer social redistribution of caregiving and thus promote this transformative agenda,” concludes MICARE Research Director Josefa Palacios.
