CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

This article examines the social organization of care for children and dependent older adults in Argentina, basedon data from the National Survey on Social Structure. It analyzes perceptions and practices around care in public and private institutions, home-based care services, and care provided by families, with a particular focus on gender implications. Due to a shortage of public services, care is highly feminized, largely performed by families, and subject to class inequalities. Although family care tends to be preferred for early childhood, among motherswith better labor opportunities there is a growing (and often unmet) demand for public care services. The outsourcing of care is more widely accepted for the elderly, for whom there is an acute lack of public services, but only better-off families can afford these privatized solutions. In both cases, the organization of care reflects shortfalls in care policies and deep-rooted cultural patterns.