Beyond social policies Towards public care systems in MERCOSUR?

Abstract

This communication aims to dimension demographic, economic and social consequences of the confluence of the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 with the pre-existing and structural global care crisis; cutting as space for analysis MERCOSUR countries: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Next, a diagnosis is made from a gender perspective on existing public care policies in the region, in view of the work and family changes perceived in the last decades in the West. Finally, inadequacies of origin and historical inadequacies of social policies in force and amplified in the pandemic scenario are measured. The methodology used is mixed, with the use of quantitative and qualitative techniques in the processing of information and interpretation of statistical data, placing them in dialogue with the reference literature on policies and public systems of care. The results show the need to think about the generalization of public care systems as overcoming instances of nineteenth-century social policies originating in the Global North that show signs of cycle exhaustion in societies of the Global South and especially in the analyzed region.