Women in Latin America and the Caribbean - Cepal

65
social security and social benefits in enterprises owned by a family member, and include these data in
their report to the Committee”.
It is clear from analysis of the implementation of the recommendations of the Beijing Platform
for Action, the Regional Programme of Action for the Women of Latin America and the Caribbean and
the treaties and conventions referred to that there has been progress with government policies designed to
respond to this issue. Again, some firms have been taking major strides towards policies that take the
reproductive dimension into account, particularly for women. There are not many examples as yet of
corporate policies to promote the sharing of responsibilities, and where these do exist they are confined to
the public sector, as in Chile and Cuba. A number of countries in the region are developing “suitable
statistical means to recognize and make visible the full extent of the work of women and all their
contributions to the national economy, including their contribution in the unremunerated and domestic
sectors, and examine the relationship of women’s unremunerated work to the incidence of and their
vulnerability to poverty” (Strategic Objective A.4).
Where poverty is concerned, although the statistics still have methodological failings
(Milosavljevic, 2005), most of the countries have information that shows women to be more vulnerable to
poverty and, once in it, to find it harder to escape. In some countries, major efforts are being made to
calculate the precise contribution of women to care activities. These include the Observatory of Gender
Equity in Health Policies in Chile, Mexico’s Gender and Poverty Observatory and the Observatory of
Gender Issues in Colombia, which have already yielded information illustrating the relationship between
low or non-existent female earnings and the family responsibilities women take upon themselves.
The evidence for the critical situation of poor women in many countries has led governments to
seek out a variety of strategies to deal with future social protection needs. In some cases, these have
brought to light the non-payment of social security contributions by women who are excluded from the
labour market or work in informal activities, while in others efforts have been made to compensate
women for their work, especially as mothers and carers in the home, via a minimum benefit entitlement.
These are recent programmes that have yet to be evaluated.
Concerning the impact of unpaid work on employment access and pension benefits, legislative
measures have been taken by several countries and there are reforms afoot in which gender considerations
are used to argue for affirmative action policies. In Panama, Law No. 54 (1999) amended the voluntary
insurance system of the Social Security Fund to include people employed in caring for their families; in
Argentina, Laws 25.994 and 24.478 extended the time limit for inclusion in the pension system for those
aged over 60 who were not covered, irrespective of whether they had paid contributions. As of late 2006,
73% of the 900,000 people who had taken advantage of this pension moratorium were women with an
average age of 71, and the average payment was the equivalent of US$ 160 in Argentine pesos. 29
Likewise, the pension reform currently under way in Chile provides for the implementation of a
solidarity pillar that includes a State contribution for working men and women who have not succeeded in
paying enough contributions for a basic subsistence pension by the time they retire. The “basic solidarity
pension” will be received by men and women over 65 who have not paid into the pension system at any
time in their lives. The solidarity contribution will also supplement the pension amount due to workers
29
Information provided by the Government of Argentina at the virtual forum to prepare for the tenth session of the
Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC, January 2007, and the
subregional preparatory meeting for South America for the tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women
in Latin America and the Caribbean, May 2007.