Changing families, social policy and inequality in Latin America

ARZA, CAMILA

Congreso; IV Forum of Sociology, International Sociological Association; 2021

In Latin America, public policies to support families with young children have been weak and countries have mainly relied on parents (or the extended family) to provide material security and care for their children. In the past two decades, social policy has expanded, and state support for families has increased but remains far from meeting existing needs. Family policies are not just limited, but also segmented: their coverage, generosity and quality is not uniform across social strata. Furthermore, family policies remain several steps behind the many changes that are taking place in family demographics in Latin America, including population ageing, diversified family arrangements, changing gender roles, rising female labor market participation and reduced fertility. In this particular paper I focus on how families have changed in Latin America and what states do to support families through cash transfers and services. It also provides a preliminary discussion about the impacts that the family structures and family policies in place today in Latin America can have on socioeconomic and gender inequality. It also aims to build indicators to measure and compare how the costs of having a child are distributed, and how coutries compare in terms of the support they provide for families with children.