The Crisis of Care, International Migration and the Capabilities Approach: Implications for Policy

Abstract

Focusing on what in Europe has come to be called “reconciliation policies” –or policies to balance family and labor market work—this paper poses the question of whether some of the legislative efforts introduced in Europe during the past decade can be applied to Latin American countries. The paper argues that there are differences between Northern and Southern countries in this respect, and it focuses mostly on two of them –the extent of the informal economy and international migration—which make this application difficult. Using the capabilities approach framework, the paper outlines other lines of action for public policy that can be useful to design reconciliation policies for the South. Finally, the paper argues that this type of policies represents an urgent issue whose time has come in order to rethink gender equity within the emerging new gender order across countries.