Cities and Territories of care: Care infrastructures with a gender approach

Abstract

The deficit of urban infrastructure has historically characterized the agglomerations of Latin America, and in particular the most segregated areas of the city. However, this inequality generates differential impacts on the daily life and use of time of men, women, and diversities. Due to mandates and gender stereotypes, in our societies, the exclusivity of care and domestic tasks has been assigned to women. The social and sexual division of labor has caused a dichotomy of spaces in daily life, with the public world being the power of men, relegating women to domestic confinement and making the productivity of their work invisible. Urban planning is not exempt from these dichotomies, historically the city has been designed from a patriarchal and heteronormative perspective, for this reason the construction of infrastructures, services and equipment are prioritized in relation to productivity, to the detriment of reproduction and sustainability of life.

This article focuses on the analysis of care infrastructures, and how their deficit has different impacts into the lives of women. It presents the main findings of a diagnostic study in neighborhoods of the town of José C. Paz, during the year 2021-2022, which inquiries about: what are the individual and collective strategies of women to solve needs around the infrastructure deficit and care services, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; what institutional support they receive; how the development of these tasks impacts their daily lives, and what impacts the development of these activities has on the community for the resolution of their needs. Finally, based on this diagnosis, a series of recommendations and reflections are presented in order to promote a comprehensive care proposal.

This article focuses on the analysis of care infrastructures, and how their deficit has different impacts into the lives of women. It presents the main findings of a diagnostic study in neighborhoods of the town of José C. Paz, during the year 2021-2022, which inquiries about: what are the individual and collective strategies of women to solve needs around the infrastructure deficit and care services, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic; what institutional support they receive; how the development of these tasks impacts their daily lives, and what impacts the development of these activities has on the community for the resolution of their needs. Finally, based on this diagnosis, a series of recommendations and reflections are presented in order to promote a comprehensive care proposal.