The Social Inequality Matrix, Universal Social Protection Systems, and Care in Latin America

Abstract

Building comprehensive social protection systems in Latin America capable of articulating contributory and noncontributory mechanisms, labor regulation, and care policies as a crosscutting element is one of the main challenges facing the rights agenda, social inclusion, and the advancement of a development model that is focused on achieving equality. Furthermore, the objective of universality, one of these systems’ basic principles, demands recognizing the differences and acting on the profound inequalities that continue to characterize societies and the labor market in Latin America. This requires a deeper knowledge of the Latin American social inequality matrix and its structuring axes (socioeconomic stratum, gender, race, ethnicity, territory, and life cycle), together with how they interlace and develop in order to guide public policy analysis and planning. The chapter argues that strengthening care policies in the region should consider their role as a pillar of evolving social protection systems that attend these inequalities. The data and reflections developed in this article are partly based on recent institutional publications by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), especially its Social Development Division. The authors wish to thank Amalia Palma for her support in writing this article, Daniela Huneeus for her editorial review, and Bernardo Atuesta for his comments on this article’s preliminary versionKeywordsSocial protectionCare policiesInequalitiesLatin America