Accessing economic and social rights under neoliberalism: gender and rights in Chile
2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 27; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/01436590600933503
ISSN1360-2241
Autores Tópico(s)Social Policy and Reform Studies
ResumoAbstract There is now a general consensus regarding the importance of social and economic rights within development and, recently, the language of women's human rights has been adopted by organisations that focus on gender and development and draw mainly upon economic and social analysis. Despite some limitations from a gender perspective, human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (icescr) can offer an important focus for such groups to claim these rights. Nevertheless, the challenge of upholding treaty obligations and guaranteeing rights to all citizens remains, particularly within the context of the neoliberal reforms that have been widely implemented in both the North and the South. Drawing on the case of Chile, this paper will consider how access to certain rights, including the rights to social security and health, can be made more difficult for some women and men as a consequence of processes following trade liberalisation and health sector reforms. An analysis of power relations is central to understanding the failure of states to guarantee an enabling environment for women's enjoyment of their social and economic rights, as many women remain excluded from decision-making processes within policy arenas. 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See M Carr, MA Chen and J Tate, ‘Globalisation and home-based workers’, Feminist Economics, 6 (3), 2000, pp 123 – 142 for further discussion of this. 28 R Munck, ‘Introduction’ to special issue, Latin American Perspectives, 31 (4), 2004, pp 3 – 20. 29 unifem, Progress of the World's Women. 30 M Chen, J Sebstad & LO'Connell, ‘Counting the invisible workforce: the case of home-based workers’, World Development, 27 (3), 1999, pp 603 – 610; and E Prugl, The Global Construction of Gender: Home-based Work in the Political Economy of the 20th Century, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. 31 H Henríquez, V Riquelme, T Gálvez & T Selamé, ‘Home work in Chile: past and present results of a national survey’, seed Working Paper, 8, Geneva: ilo, 2001. 32 R Pearson, ‘Organising home-based workers in the global economy: an action-research approach’, Development in Practice, 14 (1 – 2), 2004, pp 136 – 148. 33 RE Miranda, La Salud en Chile: Evolución y Perspectivas, Santiago: Centro de Estudios Públicos, 1994. 34 M Pollack, ‘Equidad de género en el sistema de salud chileno’, Serie Financiamiento del Desarollo, 23, Santiago: cepal, 2002. 35 M Mackintosh, ‘Health care commercialisation and the embedding of inequality’, draft paper prepared for the ruig/unrist project on Globalisation, Health and Inequality, 2003, at www.unrisd.org, accessed August 2004. 36 C Sapelli, ‘Risk segmentation and equity in the Chilean mandatory health insurance system’, Social Science and Medicine, 58 (2), 2004, pp 259 – 265. 37 http://www.gobiernodechile.cl/plan_auge/que_es_auge.asp, accessed February 2006. 38 A Gómez, ‘Health: a human right, a civil right’, Women's Health Journal, 2, 2002, pp 29 – 35. 39 Pearson, ‘Organising home-based workers in the global economy’. 40 Ibid. The ngo responsible for conducting the research in Chile was AnaClara but following internal changes a new organisation, cecam (Centro de Educación y Capacitación a la Mujer) has now emerged and is responsible for continuing this work. 41 L Benería, ‘Shifting the risk: new employment patterns, informalisation and women's work’, International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, 15 (1), 2001, pp 27 – 53. 42 R Bitrán, J Muñoz, P Aguad, M Navarrete & G Ubilla, ‘Equity in the financing of social security for health in Chile’, Health Policy, 50, 2000, pp 171 – 196. 43 Author's interview with Miriam Ortega Aaraya, cecam regional co-ordinator, 25 July 2003. 44 P Tibandebage & M Mackintosh, ‘The market shaping of capabilities in low income contexts and some implications for social policy: liberalised health care in Tanzania’, paper presented to the Conference on Justice and Poverty: Examining Sen's Capability Approach, Von Hugel Institute, Cambridge, 5 – 7 June 2001. 45 R Todaro & S Yáñez (eds), El Trabajo se Transforma: Relaciones de Producción y Relaciones de Género, Santiago: Centro de Estudios de la Mujer, 2004. 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