Abstract
Abstract Brazil was one of the countries that integrated Latin America’s left turn, a period in which social policies have become central. During the Labor Party’s Government (Partido dos Trabalhadores) (2013-2016), were developed institutional conditions to mainstream gender in public policies, which embraced the issue of the sexual division of labor. However, did it mean an effective reorientation of the childcare policy towards gender equality perspectives? This article aims to reflect upon this question, drawing on the gender mainstreaming concept. It is understood as a process of incorporation of feminist perspectives into the public policy framing, regarding the (re)definition of both the public problem and the course of state action. To do so, we carried out a qualitative study of gender mainstreaming on childcare policy (daycare centers and leaves), focusing on official discourses, mainly through documentary analysis. Based on the results analyzed, we identified the coexistence of two frames: “education and childcare rights” and “promotion of women's economic autonomy”. Since the first one has prevailed, we conclude that gender mainstreaming was marginal in the childcare policy, during the analyzed period.
Highlights
At the turn of the 21st century about two-thirds of the Latin American population were governed by left-wing coalitions (Filgueira & Martínez Franzoni, 2017; Weyland, Madrid, & Hunter, 2010)
To carry out the research we used a qualitative case study strategy (Gerring, 2010; Stake, 1998), which enabled us to conduct a number of in-depth observations in a contextual and complex way, and to refine the theoretical framework that we developed to integrate gender studies and public policy studies
In our investigation we focused on frames that mobilized the gender perspectives in dispute
Summary
At the turn of the 21st century about two-thirds of the Latin American population were governed by left-wing coalitions (Filgueira & Martínez Franzoni, 2017; Weyland, Madrid, & Hunter, 2010). Because of gender mainstreaming’s procedural character, it admits nuances, and the possibility of multiple feminist perspectives (Bacchi, 2005; Verloo & Lombardo, 2007) This means that mainstreaming in care policy can focus on: women and/or the gender relationship; caregivers, those who are cared for, and/or the care relationship (considering all those in this relationship); the gender relationship and/or its intersection with other forms of inequality (e.g. class, racial or generational); and the economic empowerment of women, protecting motherhood, and/or male co-responsibility (Martinez Franzoni, 2005; Pautassi, 2007; Aguirre, 2009; Batthyány, 2009; Guimarães, Hirata, & Sugita, 2011).
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