The care economy should be a central issue of concern for the region in the ongoing pandemic context. A new ECLAC report found that Covid-19 set back women's labor market participation by a decade. Female unemployment increased to 22 percent in 2020, a 12.6 increase over the previous year's.
"In 2020 there was a mass exodus of women from the labor force, who have not returned to search for employment, having to attend to care demands at home. 56.9% of women in Latin America and 54.3% in the Caribbean are employed in sectors where the pandemic is expected to have a higher negative impact in terms of employment and income." Additionally, the health care sector is heavily feminized and market by salary gender discrimination: salaries for women who work in the health sector are 23.7% less than men’s in the same sector.
ECLAC recommended using fiscal policy to create job opportunities, eliminate barriers to women entering the growing digital sector and guaranteeing access to finance for female entrepreneurs, among other steps. (Reuters)
More Women
- The pandemic has doubled the number of independent sex workers in Mexico City, due to the economic difficulties related to the health crisis, reports EFE.
News Briefs
Migration
- Venezuelans in Colombia were overjoyed by the government's decision to grant legal status to an estimated 1 million undocumented Venezuelan migrants inside its borders, allowing them to work legally and access health and education services. Just over half of the 1.7 million Venezuelans in Colombia – about 950,000 people – have formal status, reports the Guardian. (See Tuesday's briefs.)
- "The move is both bold and remarkable, given that Colombia hosts the highest number of Venezuelan migrants in the world," writes Luisa Feline Freier in Americas Quarterly. It could set a precedent for leadership in neighboring countries where efforts to regularize Venezuelans have been uneven or are under threat." The move is both pragmatic and ideological, she writes. "By registering all undocumented Venezuelans in the country, Colombia will increase its control in the interest of policy planning and national security, allowing substantial fiscal savings as well."
Regional
- At least 331 human rights defenders promoting social, environmental, racial and gender justice in 25 countries were murdered in 2020 -- Latin America, the most dangerous region in the world for these activists accounted for more than three-quarters of the killings. In Colombia, 177 such deaths were recorded, more than half of the global total in the latest annual Front Line Defenders (FLD) report. (Guardian)
- The U.S. Biden administration’s efforts to generate the momentum needed to defend democracy in Latin America will have trouble finding amenable partners, writes Michael Shifter in a New York Times op-ed. "The harsh realities facing Latin America could thwart the new team’s goals and aspirations in a region racked by pervasive violence and appalling inequalities." Given the challenges ahead, Shifter recommends focusing "on a few modest, realistic objectives," such as ensuring Covid-19 vaccines reach the region's highly vulnerable populations.
Haiti
- Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince yesterday, chanting “Down with kidnapping! Down with dictatorship!” – and bolstering opposition demands for President Jovenel Moïse to step down. Police fired teargas and shot in the air in an attempt to disperse protesters, who pelted the security officials with rocks, reports the Guardian. It was the biggest protest yet this year, on the heels of a deepening constitutional crisis. (See Monday's post and Tuesday's.)
- Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network has characterized the situation as a "state of siege" and denounced as political the detention of 18 people accused of plotting a coup against Moïse, including Supreme Court justice Yvickel Dabresil.
- Gun battles in the area surrounding a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Port-au-Prince are repeatedly making it unsafe for patients and staff to enter or exit the facility, the organization warned yesterday. (Relief Web)
- The U.S. is failing to help Haiti in the midst of the constitutional crisis, denounces the New York Times editorial board. To make matters worse, it continues to deport Haitians, despite a Biden administration moratorium. "One suggested solution is for outside powers — some combination of the United States, the O.A.S., the U.N. and the European Union — to organize a council of civil society leaders, along with representatives of churches, farmers and other groups, who can form a transitional government and prepare for new elections."
Brazil
- The Brazilian version of QAnon "has a distinctly pro-Bolsonaro flavor," writes Robert Muggah in Foreign Policy. It basically targets all opponents of Bolsonaro, who are accused of promoting pedophilia, among other falsehoods. "Once incubated, Brazil’s QAnon movement metastasized quickly, including during the country’s November 2020 municipal elections." Several candidates declared support for QAnon and dropped QAnon quotes and hashtags on their social media profiles while campaigning. "Although none of them was elected, they represent the tip of the infodemic iceberg," warns Muggah, noting how Bolsonaro has undermined faith vaccines.
Guatemala
- Hard-fought gains against corruption in Guatemala have been systematically dismantled over the past four years. Former president Jimmy Morales shut down the international anti-corruption commission in 2018, and current President Alejandro Giammattei has "breathed new energy into the country’s Pact of the Corrupt, as the group of dirty political and business leaders are known," write Anita Isaacs and Álvaro Montenegro in the New York Times. "As they have moved to solidify their control over Congress and the courts, they have become more brazen about their ties to drug traffickers, and openly vaunt their intentions to crack down on their political opponents."
Feminismos
- Menstruation is a factor of inequality -- one that a group of Argentine government officials are increasingly focused on mitigating, in the midst of an economic crisis that pushes women to use hygiene products for longer than recommended, due to monetary concerns. A poor household with two women spends about a month's income on pads each year. "Menstrual justice" efforts range from a proposal to eliminate taxes on menstrual hygiene products, including them in price control schemes, to distributing them for free to state workers -- Letra P.
Did I miss something, get something wrong, or do you have a different take? Let me know ...
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