Abstract

This article examines the impact of social policies on the living conditions of poor families—particularly women—in Latin America from the late 1980s to the present. It identifies three distinct trends of familialism in the region’s social protection systems. The first social policy trend is characterized by poverty alleviation policies addressing the family in an “elliptical” way, taking for granted the idea of a nuclear family. The distinguishing trait of the second trend is the appearance of social programs aimed at families and stressing the role of women as chief caregivers and administrators. And finally, the third policy trend is defined by an expansion of more universal social programs targeting children and the elderly. Despite the recent emergence of programs with gender specific goals, social policies continue to put a great burden on female workers. For example, many subsidies to poor families deliver money directly to women, improving their intra-family bargaining power, but this translates also into an increase of responsibilities and the ensuing overload of work. Consequently, social policies in Latin America need to aim at encouraging a more egalitarian distribution of housework and care work within the family, especially given how well-established androcentrism is in the region.

Highlights

  • In Latin America, the absence of family-specific policies has been linked to the prevalence of the familialization of welfare

  • Social policies in Latin America need to aim at encouraging a more egalitarian distribution of housework and care work within the family, especially given how well-established androcentrism is in the region

  • Latin American social policies are experiencing transformations that recover two principles that were abandoned in previous decades: the provision of goods and services by the state, and the language of rights

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Summary

Introduction

In Latin America, the absence of family-specific policies has been linked to the prevalence of the familialization of welfare (even in countries with a relatively strong system of social security). The three sub-systems have helped to perpetuate the traditional concept of a nuclear family (father, mother, and children) that is based on the “male breadwinner model” Such a model presupposes that men should provide monetary resources through their inclusion in the labor market, while women should be in charge of domestic work and home care tasks. Its distinguishing feature is the promotion of inward-oriented development programs to accelerate growth rates, based on import-substitution industrialization, export taxes, and duties on manufactured imports In this model, the state is regarded as the crucial agent for the strengthening of internal market, and national economic growth. The third familist trend emerged in the region during the last decade and continues into the present This new model of social protection restores the state as the provider of goods and services, and reinstates the language of rights, extending benefits to previously excluded social sectors. The Post-Washington Consensus emerged out of criticism towards the former, which led to economic instability, rising unemployment and deepening social inequalities in many countries

Familist Policies in the 1990s
Familism and Policies in the Transition to the New Millennium
The Latin American System of Social Protection in the XXI Century
Findings
Conclusions
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