By Silvana Carranza Navarro
Independent consultant and activist
Just over a month after the largest electoral period in the history of our country concluded, Mexico City is preparing to be governed for the second time by a woman: Clara Brugada. As Mayor of Iztapalapa, the most populated district with the largest number of young people, as well as the highest percentage of poverty, social backwardness and perception of insecurity in the City, she stood out for the design and implementation of 12 Transformation and Organization Units for Inclusion and Social Harmony, known as UTOPÍAS.[1]
One of Clara Brugada's main campaign proposals as a candidate for Head of Government was the “City of Care”. Through this, it is committed to building a Public Care System of high quality and coverage; promises to install child care centers, day homes for the elderly, rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities and Service Units for Daily Living, which will include laundries, community kitchens, play centers, relaxation services and support for children's homework. , among other services, in all municipalities.
Care work crosses the lives of all people at all moments of their existence, sustaining life and generating well-being. However, historically they have not been given the recognition they deserve; on the contrary, care has been made invisible, underestimated and highly feminized, affecting especially women in situations of greater poverty.
This situation, although it has existed since the beginning of human civilization, was revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in addition to recognizing the importance of care as essential work[2] to survive the health crisis, made visible the vicious circle between care, poverty, inequality, violence and precariousness.
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has pointed out that people in the worst economic situation are less likely to contract paid care services in the market, being forced to carry out such work themselves. The more care work they do, the more difficulties they face in overcoming poverty, since the lack of time limits their opportunities to enter the labor market, thus reproducing the same cycle. [3]
In Mexico City alone, dedicating oneself to unpaid care increases the poverty rate of the population by up to 10% compared to those who dedicate themselves to other activities, in addition to the fact that on average people in poverty They dedicate up to 34 hours to care work, while those from higher economic strata barely dedicate a third of that.[4] The above cumulates disproportionately to the fact that, according to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), only 15% of people in the care economy in our country have social security.
Today the reality is overwhelming, the people who provide some type of care, paid or unpaid in Mexico City are, unfairly, the most neglected, as they present a greater inequality gap compared to the rest of the entities in the country. [5]
The situation is even more worrying when we turn to look at the young population, but if there is one fact that should concern us, it is that in the labor aspect, worldwide the COVID-19 pandemic harmed youth more than any other age group and Currently 10 million young people are unemployed in Latin America.[6]
According to research carried out by the Global Network of Youth Opportunity and Citizen Action Against Poverty, in Mexico City alone 940 thousand youth face exclusion, precarious work and income poverty. However, the most alarming fact is that of these 940 thousand young people, 71% (667 thousand) are women and the majority are excluded for carrying out unpaid domestic care work.[7]
Although Latin America and the Caribbean have taken important steps towards a new social organization of care that overcomes the current unequal structure, adequately recognizing and valuing care work and promoting its equitable distribution, in Mexico City there is still a long way to go. travel.
In principle, there is an important difference between policies and programs that affect the way care is organized and comprehensive care systems. The latter rest on “a governance model that includes coordination between all institutions that implement actions aimed at caring for different target populations. Although there are many interventions that facilitate or contribute to care, their mere aggregation does not constitute a care system.”[8]
Systems rest on the idea of articulating different interventions, not just adding them (...) listing multiple interventions and trying to call them a system is a simulation. On the other hand, building rules, processes and decision spaces where various interventions are articulated to resolve the specific needs of people who care for or require care is technically complex and politically expensive.[9]
This is where the promise of a “City of Care” for Mexico City encounters a significant challenge. On December 31, 2023, the constitutional deadline expired for the legislation on the systems and programs established in the Constitution of Mexico City - including the Care System established in article 9, paragraph B of said ordinance - to come into force.
Faced with this legislative omission, a group of lawyers and activists promoted more than 5 amparos to demand that the capital's Congress legislate a Comprehensive Law for a Care System in Mexico City and, to date, all the amparos have achieved suspension definitive so that the corresponding Commissions begin the legislative process to study the initiatives presented by legislators on the matter and call for a consultation with people with disabilities.
Despite this, the Local Congress has not gotten to work, so at the moment neither the budget, nor the rules, nor the processes to create it exist. For this reason, since the federal judges have agreed with us and since Congress has not complied with the suspensions, the legislators have been warned of fines.
A Comprehensive Care System for Mexico City must consider that youth also care for and live with different disabilities, like Fernanda. She is a 20-year-old young woman, an oncology patient under surveillance and with a permanent disability as a result of her various illnesses. Fernanda, like many other young women, has encountered barriers in her educational and work inclusion since she is the primary caregiver for her 8-year-old brother. However, Fernanda is also one of the promoters of the amparo lawsuits against the City Congress to issue a Comprehensive Law for a Care System in Mexico City and is a member of the Youth Advisory Group (GAJ) of GOYN México. [10]
Youth have a creative and transformative potential, essential to create innovative solutions. Achieving the foundations for a Comprehensive Care System is a collective effort, in which the active participation of young people must focus on demanding investments for more resilient and promising futures, in which their voices and perspectives are heard and integrated, which which includes quality learning opportunities and decent work, in harmony with nature and all the beings that inhabit it.
Mexico City has a crucial task ahead: putting together the final piece that allows the design, financing and implementation of a Comprehensive Care System. This system must not only incorporate the voice of all people, especially that of youth, but also become a pillar to overcome backwardness, poverty and inequality in our City. Let's imagine a future where the more than 667 thousand young women who carry care responsibilities can have the same opportunities as others.
The local Congress has a big pending issue in its hands. Studying the initiatives and calling for a consultation with people with disabilities on a Comprehensive Law for a Care System in Mexico City is the first step towards a City of Care. Let's start from there, let's demand and not let go of this demand.
[1] These spaces aim to offer a place of coexistence, learning and recreation for all people, through participatory activities and services for all family members. Without a doubt, it is a successful social policy that has demonstrated its benefits in the population of Iztapalapa, positively impacting more than 700 thousand people, including children, youth, adults and older adults, as well as people with some type of disability.
[2] The International Labor Organization points out that care work consists of activities and relationships required to meet the physical, psychological and emotional needs of children, young people, adults and older adults.
[3] Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). (2022). The care society. Horizon for a sustainable recovery with gender equality. Available at: https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/e3fd981b-467e-4659-a977-86d51798e0dc/content
[4] Evalúa CDMX, Virtual sessions of the Evaluation Council during the gLOCAL2024 evaluation week, Second session “Diagnosis and proposals towards the construction of a Care System in Mexico City”, June 6, 2024. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6HlxceF_xc
[5] Uribe, Bernardo, CDMX caregivers suffer from greater inequality, Reforma Ciudad, June 8, 2024. Available at: https://www.reforma.com/padecen-cuidadores-de-cdmx-mayor-desigualdad/ar2821521
[6] International Labor Organization (ILO), Executive summary: Global Youth Employment Trends 2022: Investing in transforming futures for young people. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/es/resource/news/la-recuperacion-del-empleo-juvenil-sigue-produciendose-un-ritmo-lento-segun-0
[7] GOYN Mexico (2024). Youth Opportunity of the city. Our voice, our job, our incidence. Agenda presentation, CEMEFI.
[8] Michel, CL, Cejudo, GM, and Oseguera Gamba, A. (2024). What is not a care system? Links. Recovered from https://redaccion.nexos.com.mx/que-no-es-un-sistema-de-cuidados/
[9] Ibid.
[10] If you are interested in learning more about GOYN and the GAJ, visit: https://goynmexico.org