Colombia recognizes women’s full-time care work

DW (English)

In Bogotá, an estimated 1.2 million women do full-time work as caregivers. The Colombian capital wants empower these women and fight the country’s gender inequality by giving them more time and space for themselves.

Transcript

00:00 It's morning rush hour in Bogota, Colombia, and crowds of people are making their way

00:07 to work.

00:08 The country has become one of the most important economies in South America in recent years.

00:14 The general standard of living is rising.

00:16 But there's also plenty of unpaid work going on behind the scenes, like raising children,

00:21 caring for the elderly, and housework, mostly done by women.

00:26 In Ciudad Bolívar, one of the poorest districts of the city, right next to the cable car station

00:32 is Bogota's first Care Block, a unique social project to relieve the burden on these women.

00:40 Coordinator Natalia Poveyda knows many members of the community personally.

00:49 Right now we're in the medical centre.

00:52 We offer basic medical care here in the Care Block, so that the caregivers no longer have

00:57 to travel long distances.

01:00 This is often their only access to the health care system.

01:07 People who are always looking after others often have little time for themselves.

01:11 As a result, illnesses are often not diagnosed at all, or too late.

01:16 Care Block employees also help when someone needs an appointment with a specialist.

01:21 Early is a full-time job.

01:23 Many of these women dropped out of school early and never learned a profession.

01:28 The centre offers them the chance to complete their studies, to attend a computer course

01:32 or other further education.

01:37 For example, classes in marine biology.

01:40 It's a dream come true for me.

01:44 This organisation has made it come true.

01:46 I'm 60 years old and now I'm allowing myself the pleasure of studying that I've never had

01:50 before.

01:54 It's an opportunity I've never had before.

01:57 I'm going to graduate and continue my studies.

02:02 Even just having fun is something many of the women feel they've never been allowed

02:05 to do.

02:06 30% of Bogota's female population looks after the family or a sick relative full-time.

02:13 That's 1.2 million women.

02:16 The centre wants to give them time and space for themselves.

02:25 Childcare is provided during the courses.

02:28 The little ones play and learn, just like their mothers and grandmothers.

02:40 I always have my grandmother's face in mind.

02:43 I think of a woman who dedicated her whole life to others, to work, to raising children,

02:49 to society, to her partner, to her grandchildren, until her last day.

02:56 And in the end her health was suffering and she had no social security.

03:00 She had the feeling that she had toiled all her life but never achieved anything.

03:06 Just a few streets away is another popular feature of the care block.

03:11 This is our laundry room.

03:14 Welcome.

03:16 Hello Albita.

03:19 Women spend up to four hours a day doing laundry.

03:23 Here they're allowed to hand in up to eight kilos every day and get the laundry back washed

03:27 and dried in the evening.

03:31 This is our daily list.

03:39 We enter the users here every day and then wait for them to come and collect their laundry.

03:44 We don't lose anything because every time they give us their clothes we mark them with

03:47 tape.

03:50 Unfortunately the city has only provided four washing machines so far so not everyone can

03:55 use the service.

03:58 In 2010 Colombia became the first country in the world to legally acknowledge the economic

04:02 contribution of unpaid care work.

04:05 However this doesn't entitle caregivers to a salary.

04:09 If all these women were paid for their work it would be equivalent to 30% of Bogota's

04:14 GDP.

04:16 It's time to rethink things, says Natalia.

04:20 A powerful cultural movement will begin from inside the home.

04:24 The children who grow up with parents who visited our centre will realise that care

04:28 work and everything related to it is not the exclusive domain of women, it's everyone's

04:36 work.

04:37 According to official figures the programme has reached more than 400,000 people so far.

04:43 There are plans to develop a total of 45 care blocks over the next few years.

04:47 (upbeat music)

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