Gender inequality in the care economy before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Union European and Latin America and Caribbean

Abstract

BackgroundThe pandemic drove the women to domestic tasks overload added by unpaid care activities that must be conciliated with their paid job. Thus, this work aimed to analyze the degree of the Objectives for Sustainable Development (ODS) Goal 5 performance that deals with gender inequality in the European Union (EU) and Latin America & Caribbean (LAC), due to their contrasts in the pandemic combat public policies and the social wealth constraints.MethodsThe study used a qualitative and exploratory methodology. The data were obtained from the European Institute for Gender Equality, UN Women, Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Social Science Latin-American Conseil.ResultsIn LAC women work three times more than men per day, considering the domestic tasks and the unpaid care activities, they also account for 72.8% of the health professionals receiving 25% less than men. The primary health assistance increase for women as well as the recording of domestic violence cases. In the EU the majority of health and care workers are also women, 76% and 86%, respectively. There, these women also receive less than men (6.5%), presenting excessive workload and life risk.ConclusionsImpacting differences were observed on the gender inequality worsening in both studied regions after the pandemic beginning. It is urgent the establishment of proper public policies to minimize the excess of obligations on the women during the pandemic and to realign the ODS goal n° 5 in these regions.