beyond equality: towards a system of non

BEYOND EQUALITY: TOWARDS A SYSTEM OF NONANDROCENTRIC INDICATORS
Cristina Carrasco
[email protected]
Universidad de Barcelona
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BEYOND EQUALITY: TOWARDS A SYSTEM OF NON-ANDROCENTRIC
INDICATORS
“El ser humano es fundamentalmente un ser de cuidado
más que un ser de razón o de voluntad (...) Las humanas y
los humanos ponen y han de poner cuidado en todo:
cuidado por la vida, por el cuerpo, por el espíritu, por la
naturaleza, por la salud, por la persona amada, por el
que sufre y por la casa. Sin el cuidado la vida perece.”
[“Being human has more to do with caring than with
reason or will (...) Human beings must and should care
for everything: life, the body, the spirit, nature, health,
the beloved, the sufferer, the home. Without care, life dies
out. . .”]
Leonardo Boff
Ética planetaria desde el Gran Sur.
1. THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FACTORS
The objective of a non-androcentric system of indicators: from equality to the
recovery of women’s experience
This paper is based on a report commissioned by the Institut Catalá de les Dones
(Women’s Institute of Catalonia), outlining a system of indicators designed to track
women’s experience in a range of specific areas1. The aim of this presentation is to
present an initial selection of such indicators, developed using non-androcentric criteria
that seek to revalorize women’s experience by placing it within an analytical frame that
is divorced from society’s traditional focus on male experience. By “non-androcentric
indicators, or those sensitive to sexual difference,” I am not referring what are
commonly known as “gender indicators,” or “gender-equality indicators.” The social
underpinnings and, thus, the goals of the latter are different from those presented this
paper.
We live in a patriarchal society characterized by strong and all-too-familiar
inequalities between men and women in the realms of work, wages, use of space and
1
The original report was coordinated by Cristina Carrasco. Anna Bosch, Elisabet Almeda, Lucía Artazcoz, Eve
Fernández, Marisa Fernández, Carme Miralles, Mercè Otero and Remei Sipi also participated in the different areas.
2
time, social recognition, power, etc. Such unequal treatment has led to a widespread
devaluation of the activities traditionally carried out by women, as well as of their
mentalities, relationship types and bodies. In short, the simple fact of being a woman
has been devalued. Patriarchal devaluation of “womanhood” does not mean that the
latter has no intrinsic worth, of course. On the contrary, we must recover value of
womanhood if we are to dismantle patriarchy.
The reduction or total elimination of the existing inequalities between men and
women, which largely drives the politics of equality or reconciliation, can be described
as “equality in a masculine mode.” The aim is to obtain equal rights for both men and
women without, however, seeking to alter the dominant socio-political model. Thus,
women are encouraged to achieve parity with men in terms of their participation in
society and the workplace, their use of public space, their responsibilities, positions of
power, etcetera; in other words, they are encouraged to occupy the social spaces
traditionally reserved for men, and to enjoy the status and recognition associated with
those spaces.
The idea is for women to gradually integrate into the existing
androcentric model by participating more and more actively in the public world, without
truly transforming the model itself. For a section of the female population, this situation
might possibly result in a better quality of life and improved rights vis-à-vis the male
population.
However, the male-centered model requires that people have the time and
freedom to immerse themselves fully in the demands of the marketplace, leaving little
time for human caregiving activities. This means that, in order for the model to work,
someone (usually a woman) has to attend to the needs of those in the domestic sphere,
including the needs of employed men. As a consequence, the “equality in a masculine
mode” model is not universally applicable. For if women were to integrate into the
workplace under the same conditions as men, who would do the necessary caring?
(Carrasco, Domínguez y Mayordomo 2005).
The achievement of equal rights for men and women is perhaps necessary goal,
but it will never be a sufficient one. Feminists have increasingly called attention to the
limitations of this idea, “which equates equal rights with political liberty” (Birulés 2004)
and suggested that a true understanding of “female matters” is one that derives from
women’s own lives and experiences and reflects women’s own wealth and potential,
rather than what they lack in order to be equal to men. Such a perspective tends to
victimize women by characterizing them as weak social agents requiring special attention
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and assistance. Of course, this is not to deny the situation of urgent need experienced by
many women today. But it does call attention to the shortcomings of the masculine model
and alerts us to the need to strive for more than simple equality.
Feminist politics seeks to establish what we might call “equality in difference”
or “the recovery of female experience.” This model seeks to break with the current
androcentric model by naming and valorizing the activities, traditionally developed and
enacted by women, which have been devalued by patriarchy. It seeks to do so by
constructing a new symbolic system that reveals previously-hidden social values and
knowledge, by recovering private and domestic social spaces, by ending the
public/private dichotomy, and by developing “our ability or desire to creatively
destabilize what we have been given” (Birulés 2004). The ultimate goal of these efforts
is to preserve human life and well-being: to sustain human life in all of its facets and
subjectivities. In short, feminist politics warns that it is not enough for us to simply
observe the axis of male and female in/equality and encourages us to move around the
axis of male-female difference and well-being.
The “equality in a masculine mode” model uses a system of analytical
indicators, commonly known as “gender indicators,” to monitor the process of female
integration into the male world. By contrast, the “recuperation of female experience”
model requires a set of indicators designed to track ruptures with the patriarchal system,
while also acknowledging the validity of women’s experiences and the problems
explicitly affecting women in today’s society.
Considering the time it takes to achieve a break with the existing model and the
complexity of such a rupture, it is important that the indicators for the second model be
capable of working in two directions at once. On the one hand, they should provide a
means of monitoring women’s evolving path towards “equality in a masculine mode”
(one indicator for this process might be the employment statistics for a given
population). On the other hand, they should also detect changes in the expression of
patriarchal ideology (such as increased support for domestic caretaking via real changes
in the sexual division of labor).
Sustainability of life as a social and political objective
As a central goal, “human well-being, or the sustainability of life” is hard to define. My
understanding of the phrase leans heavily on Amartya Sen’s work on “functionings”
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and “capabilities” (Sen 1985, 1996, 1999). Outlining a structure of thought rather than
a theory, Sen’s approach is grounded in a concept of well-being that takes into account
the quality of life among individuals, without lapsing into individualism. Given the
inherent uniqueness of each person, to deny individuality would be to impoverish the
human heritage. This individuality is relational to the degree that human beings are
necessarily social beings: individualism itself is unreal and can only be conceived of by
rendering human dependency invisible.
The life-conditions surrounding different
individuals are entirely their own, despite the fact that they develop within specific
social contexts marked by specific environmental and social conditions, in which people
interrelate and interact in accordance with established norms and habits. It is thus
important to identify the individual differences between men and women when
exploring issues of well-being.
The main premise here is that well-being does not come from material goods
but, rather, from “capabilities” which allow us to attain valuable “functionings.” This
perspective stems from an understanding of life as a network of interrelated
“functionings” (being well-fed, avoiding premature death, participating in community
life, etc.), in which a person’s “capability” represents all the combinations of
“functionings” that are available to her during the course of her life, i.e., her
opportunities for attaining well-being. (Robeyns 2005). “Such functionings represent
specific facets of individual existence; more specifically, they represent all that any
given person can do or to be throughout course of her or his life. That person’s
capability can be described as all of the combinations or groups of combinations
available to her or him” (Sen 1996: 56). The difference between a “functioning” and a
“capability” is analogous to the difference between a result and an opportunity, or the
difference between something obtained and the freedom to obtain it (Robeyns 2003).
The idea, then, is to focus on each person’s freedom (i.e., her or his real liberty) to
develop positive states of being, such as being well-fed, healthy, politically active, etc.
In accordance with this belief, “well-being/quality of life” can be defined as a
dynamic process geared towards the satisfaction of one’s personal needs, which
constantly mutate in response to the changes in one’s identity and social relationships.
In other words, “well-being” can be seen as a constant expansion on a person’s potential
to be (healthy, nourished, etc.) or do (participate in communal life, etcetera).
In recent years, Sen’s ideas have sparked a wide-ranging debate among
feminists, who have expanded on the Nobel prize-winner’s concepts of well-being and
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standards of living. More specifically, feminists suggest revising the latter to include a
dimension that is often ignored in official studies, even though the conditions it defines
are essential to a humane existence: the satisfaction of basic (bodily, emotional and
affective) needs through the administration of direct forms of care, usually within the
context of the home2. Such a view suggests that standards of living ought to be
continually revised and that a high standard of living comes not only from material
resources, but also from the contexts and relationships of care and affection that are
largely maintained by unpaid domestic caregivers. From this perspective, women’s
experience in caring for human bodies and emotions should be seen as a basic,
determining aspect of standards-of-living analysis (Addabbo and Picchio 2005).
Historically, the sexual division of labor has assigned separate roles for men and
women complex activities that make up daily life, i.e., those associated with the care of
the body, identity, personal relationships, and the emotional self. The visibility of
domestic work, and its enormous impact on individual standards of living, not only
highlights the social disadvantages to women of doing work that is undervalued; it also
(and, in my opinion, more importantly) calls attention to the hidden or concealed
fragility and vulnerability of men as dominant social subjects who normally require an
enormous amount of work, care and affection. “In the home, and its extensions, women
alleviate or soothe all the wounds, sufferings and erosions generated by the masculine
world. This is where women bestow their affection and care on men, so that the latter
can recuperate and continue with their daily lives and relationships. Unquestionably,
men’s lives in their current form would be unbearable and inhuman without this
outpouring of care and affection; in fact, they would not “be” at all (Bosch, Carrasco y
Grau 2005).
The feminist perspective on standards of living, which removes female caring
from its position of invisibility and locates it at the center of human development, goes
far beyond the simple goal of attaining equal opportunity; it places the issue of
reproductive responsibilities at the center of social and political life rather than
relegating it to the private realm of female responsibility. At the same time, it removes
social objectives from the sphere of private benefits and places them squarely in the
realm of human life and well-being, rather than in the realm of private company profits.
2
See the special edition of Feminist Economics 9 (2/3), 2003, which is dedicated to this topic.
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We are dealing, then, with an issue that requires an explicit political negotiation
between public and private institutions, and between men and women (Addabbo, Lanzi
y Picchio 2003).
How public politics are designed and implemented, how money is
transferred and systems of social protection configured —all of these help determine the
specific distribution of space and time and the use of public and private resources in any
given society.
While diminishing the importance of personal possessions such as
material goods or wealth, this focus on capabilities does not deny that such resources
can be an important means of attaining some aspects of well-being.
In short, standards of living can be said to be political to the degree that they
reflect the organization, rules for accessing resources, and social distribution of wealth
in any given society. In this context, the role of public institutions should be to provide
support for those conditions that allow society members to satisfy their needs in a
humane way. This means that the public sector ought to see people as individuals and
relationships as dynamic and changeable, given that a person’s living space, level of
dependency on others, and activities can vary throughout her or his life cycle. Such a
focus is important because it gives the public administration an active role in the
development of standards of living for society members, thereby reaffirming the value
of women’s experience.
2. CAPABILITIES AND INDICATORS: SOME PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS
The project commissioned by the Women’s Institute of Catalonia involved developing a
system of indicators for a select group of subject areas relating to work, participation,
education, health, living space, sports, territorial planning and mobility, social
protection, immigration and violence against women.
Using the theoretical focus
discussed above, we developed a vector of capabilities, and then established a set of
indicators for each.
Only the chosen categories (there were ten of these in all) were analyzed;
however, they were placed in a wider context in an attempt to capture the activities
among women that have always gone unrecognized. Our goal was to list the conditions
necessary for the attainment of well-being among the population as whole, while
recognizing sexual difference. The original report included a section on “demographics
and living spaces” designed to contextualize the experiences of women as a
demographic group,
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Categories for the proposed “capabilities vector”:
1. Access to health
2. Access to education and learning
3. Access to a safe, adequate living space
4. Access to paid employment and appropriate working conditions
5. Access to a monetary income
6. Access to adequate mobility and territorial planning
7. Access to free time and sports activities
8. Access to care
9. Access to a life that is free of violence
10. Social and political participation in the community
Clearly, the final two categories differ markedly from the others, and even the phrasing
of the final category stands out from the rest. At least to some degree, the first seven
capabilities can be acquired in the market. If one has money, then one can gain access
to health, education, a home, etc. The goal, then, is to ensure that no person be denied
access to a capability on the basis of her or his level of income. By contrast, there are
no adequate market substitutes for the eighth capability, “access to care,” given the
social and emotional factors included in our definition of “care;” however, access to
resources associated with the market and/or public sectors can simplify and improve the
organization and administration of care. Finally, the last two categories respond to
behaviors –differentiated on the basis of sex- that stem from the current patriarchal
culture and that have little to do with the marketplace.
Taking a closer look at these categories, we see that some capabilities are not
goals in and of themselves, but rather provide resources for other capabilities. The
clearest example of this is “access to a monetary income.”
By contrast, other
capabilities that are valid in and of themselves also provide resources for others. For
example, to have access to good health is a valid goal in and of itself, but it also
facilitates one’s access to an education or to an adequately paid job. Similarly, the
opportunity to live a life free of violence can enhance or impede one’s access to good
health. Other capabilities, such as access to free time and to sports activities and access
to personal care, support one’s access to good health.
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“Work” is a special category. Although we could have chosen to lump all forms
of work into a single category, we decided instead to list a number of different
capabilities related to this category: paid labor, caregiving, income, and even free time
(which has an impact on work). Our reasons for distributing the concept of work
among various different sub-categories were twofold: first, we wished to highlight the
importance of caregiving work and the organization of personal time, both of which are
often ignored. Second, we wanted to call attention to the fact that money doesn’t
always come from the marketplace. By treating “work” as an integral part of these
various sub-categories, we highlight the need to reflect on the interconnectedness of the
different capacities.
It is interesting to note the close interconnection between the various
“capabilities” listed above; together, they form a kind of network that facilitate one’s
access to a better quality of life. This is one of the main reasons why we chose to
arrange the chosen indicators as (interconnected) “capabilities” rather as independent,
fragmented elements. The lives of human beings, and of women in particular, are not
compartmentalized but rather move continuously through space and time, and this
constant movement affects the different aspects of each individual life. Such human
complexity demands an integral analysis.
Some explanation is also necessary with regard to the indicators themselves. In
the first place, and taking into account that the number of indicators in any system
should never be excessive, we propose an average of ten for each capability. In the
second place, it is well known that the kind of indicator required by any given system
depends largely on the chosen system of classification. Our proposal relies mainly on
diagnostic and quantitative indicators. These are quantitative in that they are expressed
numerically (although in some cases a qualitative content has been given a numeric
value), and diagnostic in that they offer a global and synthetic panorama of a given
situation at a specific point in time, while allowing us to trace the evolution of that same
situation over a longer period. In effect, they allow us to visualize and monitor the
overall situation of women, and also draw attention to the main obstacles (especially
those subject to public and societal intervention) to women’s development of these
capabilities.
Thus, the proposed indicators were not designed to evaluate specific
political systems, programs or processes.
The proposed system contains two kinds of indicators: functional (realistic)
ones and desirable ones.
Functional indicators are those that lend themselves to
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calculation using the available information. By contrast, desirable indicators can be
described as those that are necessary and appropriate in view of the proposed goal, but
for which there is not enough information to allow for any meaningful calculation. It is
important to identify these indicators, because they identify the gaps in our current data,
the areas where more information is needed.
3. CAPABILITIES AND INDICATORS: A PROPOSAL
This paper presents three of the ten capabilities (each with four indicators) included in
the original report. The indicators, which are included here in order to show how the
capabilities vector was constructed, represent a rather random sampling of the original
group. Next to each capability there appears, first, a summary of the original text
explaining the importance of that particular element as well as its implications, areas of
influence, and relationship to other capabilities (these summaries will come in handy
during the process of calculation, positioning and interpretation described later in this
paper); second, a graph summarizing the results of all of the indicators; and finally, a
brief analysis of four specific indicators.
A. CAPABILITY: ACCESS TO ADEQUATE MOBILITY AND TERRITORIAL
PLANNING
In general, it can be said that men and women approach mobility issues differently:
they have different reasons for traveling, use different modes of transportation, and
follow different routes. The subjective positioning of each individual, that is, her or his
self-placement along the pedestrian-driver pole, also tends to vary by sex.
Broadly speaking, differences between women’s and men’s approaches to
mobility can be characterized as follows: women’s mobility patterns reflect a wider set
of motivations than do men’s, which tend to respond to the needs of work or study;
women are much more likely than men to walk or use the bus as a means of
transportation; women tend to move within an area that is closer to their homes; women
self-position more frequently than do men as pedestrians rather than drivers; and finally,
women are increasingly likely to report a positive attitude towards the male model of
mobility, a development that seems to reflect the feelings of exclusion generated by the
latter.
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Among the numerous elements contributing to this difference of mobility
between men and woman, there is one that ought to be considered basic. This is the
wide range of tasks assumed by women today, whose current socio-economic situation
obliges them to expand on their traditional household duties and responsibilities to
include others outside the home. Other developments relating to women’s role in
society, which have aggravated the differences between men and women in the realm of
mobility, include:
- The functional use of space encouraged by contemporary territorial planning, which
has caused an increase in the use of private vehicles, since the erection of a principal
infrastructure connecting one function to the next has required expanding on the urban
and interurban road network.
- The development of low-density suburban housing developments in areas where there
are few basic services, fomented by urban planning
- The progressive loss of pedestrian space and the unsafe, congested and noisy condition
of the roads and highways, caused by a cost-based approach to urban design. As a
consequence of this approach, city streets have gradually lost their relevance, reducing
the dynamism of urban commerce and the numbers of public services and utilities, play
and leisure spaces, etc.
-The fact that mobility planning has mainly focused on meeting large-scale mobility
needs and those related to work and study. As a result, the needs of places with a
relatively low population density, as well as those needs which are unrelated to study or
work, have not been met.
All of these elements have contributed to the fact that, as of today, the
“accessibility principle” in the transportation law of 9/2003 is still not guaranteed for all
areas of the population. According to this law, “mobility must guarantee adequate and
safe accessibility for all citizens, since a lack of universal accessibility can lead to social
exclusion.”
In order to prevent mobility from becoming a factor of social exclusion for
women, the availability and service of the most common modes of transportation must
be improved; at the same time, the re-distribution of income and resources among the
different transportation services and territories must avoid falling into regressive
patterns. Universal access to work is also important, since employment is one of the
principal mechanisms of integration into modern society.
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INDICATORS FOR ACCESS TO ADEQUATE MOBILITY AND
TERRITORIAL PLANNING
Indicator
1. Driver’s license
holders
2. Motorization
index
3. Access to a
private vehicle
Definition
Number of women versus men who are issued a driver’s license
every year.
Distribution of vehicle licenses by sex per 1000 inhabitants.
4. Reasons for
displacement
Percentage of persons who habitually move from one location to
another for reasons related to: work; study; household
administration and human care.
Percentage of persons who normally walk/bicycle/use public
transportation/use a private car (as a driver or passenger) as a
means of displacement.
Relationship between the average distances traveled by women
versus men.
Percentage of persons who self-identify as “basically
pedestrians” and percentage of persons who self-identify as
“basically drivers.”
5. Mode of
displacement
6. Distance
traveled
7. Self-positioning
with respect to
mode of
displacement
8. Index of
perceived safety
levels in public
transportation
stations, centers
and vehicles
9. Evaluation of
modes of
displacement
10. Metro and
FGC stations in
Catalonia that
have been adapted
to the needs of
people with
reduced mobility
11. Public
investment in
public and private
transportation in
Catalonia
12. Public space
reserved for
vehicular versus
pedestrian transit
in the main cities
of Catalonia
Percentage of women who report having individual access to a
private vehicle.
Percentage of persons who report feeling unsafe in public
transportation stations, centers and vehicles during the hours of
low demand.
Grade of satisfaction with respect to different modes of
displacement.
Percentage of metro and FGC stations that have been equipped
with elevators and/or mechanical stairways.
Comparison of public investment in road infrastructure versus
public investment in railways and road transportation services,
according to the appropriate administrations.
Percentage of public space reserved for vehicular versus
pedestrian transit in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida, Girona and
Tortosa, with “public space” being defined as those urban areas
(sidewalks, paths, plazas, parks or gardens) not occupied by
buildings.
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13. Number of
homes built in
suburban housing
developments
versus those built
inside the city
center
Percentage of homes built in suburban housing developments in
comparison with those built inside the city center, in the counties
of Valles Oriental, Tarragones, Segarra, Alt Emporda and Baix
Ebre, during the past ten years
Discussion of four specific indicators
Indicator 1: Driver’s license holders
Definition
Number of women versus men who are issued a driver’s license each year. Differential
variables: place of origin, pertinence to a significant age group, and type of driver’s
license.
Objective
To discover the variability over time in the rate of new drivers, and to detect any
possible trend towards equilibrium between men and women in this realm.
Importance
The possession of a driver’s license is a good indicator of individual autonomy. In
transportation models based in the use of a private vehicle, the possession of a driver’s
license often provides increased access to goods and services.
This indicator reveals a clear sexual bias, since 65% of those who obtain a driver’s
license are men, who generally do so between the ages of 25 and 45.
In the case of immigrants, it is important to note that many women in this group
possess driver’s licenses that are not valid in this country, and that language problems
can hinder their access to driving academies.
Indicator 3: Access to a private vehicle
Definition
Percentage of women who report having individual access to a private vehicle.
Differential variables: pertinence to a significant age group, family type, employment
situation, and vehicle type.
Objective
To learn more about women’s access to a private vehicle, whether or not they own one.
Importance
Because women tend to have a more restricted access to private vehicles than do men,
information on this subject can cast light on how vehicle access conditions women’s
possibilities for territorial displacement, bearing in mind that the use of a private
vehicle in the home tends to be secondary among women.
Indicator 5: Mode of displacement
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Definition
Percentage of persons who normally walk/bicycle/use public transportation/use a
private car (as a driver or passenger) as a means of transportation. Differential
variables: pertinence to a significant age group, employment situation, reasons for
displacement.
Objective
To explore the existing inequalities between men and women with regard to their use
of different modes of transportation.
Importance
Women tend to walk or use public transportation, while men tend to use a private
vehicle as a means of transportation.
Indicator 11: Public investment in public and private transportation in Catalonia
Definition
Comparison of public investment in road infrastructure versus public investment in
railways and road transportation services, according to the appropriate administrations.
Objective
To explore the distribution patterns of invested resources and their evolution over time,
in different administrations and for different (public or private) forms of transportation.
Importance
Since women are the primary users of public transportation, it is appropriate to learn
more about the politics of the various administrations responsible for planning and
administering transportation facilities and resources.
B. CAPABILITY: ACCESS TO CARE
Adequate access to care enables all individuals to meet their needs directly, regardless
of their sex, age, civil status, or housing situation and regardless of whether those needs
are biological, social or emotional. Care is about the meeting of bodily needs, including
physical, biological, social and affective needs.
This is a basic capability that provides critical support for other human activities,
including participation in the job market.
“Caring” is closely related to the
sustainability of human life and to human reproduction, i.e., the reproduction of human
complexity in all of its dimensions within a given (and necessarily social) context.
Above all, it is related to quality of life and well-being.
Care is usually organized from within the domestic sphere, although its
development normally takes place in four sectors: the market sector, the public sector,
the family or communal network, and the domestic realm of unpaid work. Thus, the
administration of care spans the public, private, communal and domestic spheres.
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In terms of the marketplace, paid employment allows one to obtain an income,
which in turn provides access to care services in the marketplace. While these are no
substitute for the care provided in the home, they can be of great help, especially to
people who are dependent upon others for health- or age-related reasons. At the same
time, income inequalities (expressed in terms of salaries, pensions, etc.) between social
groups, and between women and men, affect women differently than they do men in
terms of the possibility of acquiring care services in the market.
However, participation in the marketplace takes time, which then becomes
unavailable for domestic labors. In other words, the amount of time one spends at a
paid job conditions the amount of time one has available for domestic care; and the sum
of both of these activities (i.e., the total amount of time spent working) determines
whether or not one will have any free time left over. It is thus important to study “use
of time.”
The ability to simultaneously work at a paid job and attend to the needs of
household members is not only a matter of adding up hours; as I noted with reference to
the capability “access to paid employment,” the profound problems that arise at the
intersection of these two categories has to do with the aims of each: the objective of
paid employment is to obtain a benefit, whereas caring is geared towards human wellbeing (Picchio 2001).
These contradictory aims, which imply different ways of
working and different working conditions, responsibilities and levels of dedication,
create profound tensions in the people (mainly women) who take on both.
The time dedicated to care work also limits one’s possibilities of having free
time left over for other activities and for the development of other capabilities, although
the impact of personal, subjective and individual factors related to the caregiver’s
interest in her work, and to the relationships and affections nourished by her caring,
must also be taken into consideration, and these are difficult to measure. In this regard,
it is important to stress that by measuring care time we are forced to quantify it using
the standards of “clock time,” a homogenizing concept associated with the rhythms and
demands of market production.
Of course, a person does not obtain the capability described above as “access to
care” simply by virtue of her involvement in the administration of care. Rather, she is
offering a resource, a set of possibilities, so that another person or persons can receive
better care. Traditionally, women have dedicated much more time than have men to
care activities, which means that the latter have received much higher levels of care than
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women have. Because of this, the concept of “self-care” is an important one. Bosch et
al (2005) have referred to the difference between care that is received and that which is
given within the context of the home as a “civilizing deficit.”
Finally, the public sector participates in the caring process in two ways: by
monetary transfers, which provide a means of acquiring care services in the market, and
by offering services of direct care. Most monetary transfers take place in the nondomestic workplace, with the result that women, who have weaker links to paid
employment than do men, generally have less access to this transference of funds than
their male counterparts (Carrasco et al 1997). This imbalance results from the lack of
recognition of caring as a form of work and the lack of rights (to retirement and
unemployment benefits, etc.) enjoyed by caregivers themselves.
The direct care
services offered by the public sector are one resource –in many situations a determining
one- that can increase women’s level of participation in the market. Given their
importance, such services ought to be universalized, at least among those sectors of
society whose earnings do not allow access to care services via the marketplace.
Caring for the population ought to be a basic goal of the public sector, and this
means that caring should not be viewed as a private subject, much less a women’s issue.
And if it is a social issue, then the role of the public sector should not be to subsidize
families, to help them “make ends meet.”
INDICATORS FOR ACCESS TO CARE
Indicator
1. Care time
2. Direct care time
3. Performance of
care activities
4. Performance of
cleaning and
cooking activities
5. Nursing care
6. Unpaid
caregivers
7. Degree of
Definition
Comparison of the average amount of time spent by women
versus men on domestic care work.
Time spent by women versus men on direct care activities, in
homes with individuals over the age of 69 or under the age of 11.
Percentages of men versus women who spend at least 20 hours
per week performing care activities.
Percentage of men versus women who perform at least 80% of all
cooking and cleaning activities within the home.
Comparison of the average amount of social time spent on care
by healthy men and women who live in homes where at least one
person is ill.
Numbers of women versus men who work at home as the
principal unpaid caregivers for family members aged 65 or older
who experience difficulty performing routine daily activities.
Number of 0- to 3-year-old boys and girls who attend public
16
schooling among
preschool-aged
children (0-3
years)
8. Food subsidy
coverage
9. Coverage of
retirement home
needs
10. Coverage of
the need for nonresidential day
care for the elderly
11. Coverage of
the need for inhome nursing care
12. Requests for
placement in
senior retirement
homes or nonresidential day
centers, or for inhome nursing care
13. Use of
paternity leave
preschools, in comparison with the overall number of children in
the same age group.
Total number of girls and boys between the ages of 3 and 12 who
receive government food subsidies at school, in relation to the
overall demand for such subsidies.
Number of dependent persons aged 65 or older who obtain
placement in public and private senior retirement homes, in
relation to the overall demand for such placement.
Proportion of dependent persons aged 65 or older who attend a
public or private non-residential day center for the elderly, in
relation to the overall demand for such placement.
Number of dependent persons who receive in-home nursing care,
in comparison with the overall demand for such care.
Percentage of primary female caregivers versus primary male
caregivers for persons aged 65 or older who seek placement for
the dependent person in private or public senior retirement homes
or non-residential day centers, or who request in-home nursing
care.
Percentage of working fathers with children aged 3 or under, who
have accepted some form of paternity leave during the past few
years in order to spend time caring for their children.
Discussion of four specific indicators
Indicator 1: Care time
Definition
Comparison of the average amount of time spent by women versus men on domestic
caregiving work. Differential variables: geographical origin, pertinence to a
significant age group, civil status, family type, and social group.
Objective
To show the inequalities between men and women with regard to the performance of
care work, i.e., the administration of “care”. Variations in this category associated with
age, family type, and civil status enable us to identify critical moments during the life
cycle when the need for individual care increases. Variations by social group highlight
the inequalities between different groups of female caregivers.
Importance
The significance of this indicator is twofold. On the one hand, it allows us to observe
the social relevance of care as a quantitative value, thus highlighting a basic aspect of
such unpaid work: namely, its critical importance to processes of social sustainability.
On the other hand, it provides a clear view of the inequalities in the time spent on care
activities by women versus men, thus giving an indirect window on those sectors of the
population who receive better care, and those upon whom most of the work relating to
17
human and social reproduction (that is, the difference between the caregiver and the
recipient of such care) devolves. The focus on care time enables us to valorize and
name a key female experience and to highlight its human and social value.
Indicator 6: Unpaid caregivers
Definition
Numbers of women versus men who work at home as the principal unpaid caregivers
for family members aged 65 or older who experience difficulty performing routine
daily activities. Differential variables: pertinence to a significant age group, family
type, employment situation and social group.
Objective
To demonstrate the inequalities between men and women in the field of geriatric care.
The latter is presented as a field of increasing demand in modern society, in which
women represent the overwhelming majority of caregivers for the elderly population.
Importance
The importance of this indicator is twofold. On the one hand, it highlights the
increasing need for personal care services among the elderly, a problem that clearly
requires social action. On the other hand, it calls into evidence the current feminization
of the caregiving population. Far from being insignificant, this trend has serious
ramifications for women. A number of studies suggest that unpaid caregivers
experience a higher risk of physical and emotional illness and a lower quality of life
than do other sectors of the population. If a basic goal of society is to safeguard the
well-being of all its members, then this situation —in which the well-being of the older
population is exchanged for the “poorliness” of their caregivers– ought to be
unacceptable. The problem is exacerbated by the current demographic increase in the
elderly population.
Indicator 7: Degree of schooling among preschool-aged children (0-3 years)
Definition
Proportion of 0- to 3-year-old boys and girls who attend public preschools, in
comparison with the overall number of children in the same age group.
Objective
To show the accessibility of public preschool among children aged 0 to 3, and the
importance granted to early childhood education within the realm of educational
politics. To examine the degree to which a genuine public support for the organization
of care tasks, especially with regard to care of the very young, can be said to exist; or
whether, on the other hand, such tasks are routinely delegated to family members (and
especially to mothers) or purchased in the market.
Importance
The importance of this indicator is twofold, especially if a low level of schooling
among children aged 0-3 is detected. On the one hand, it shows the neglect or low
interest level among political leaders when it comes to issues surrounding the care of
very young children. This strongly suggests that families, and especially women, are
still widely perceived as those responsible for domestic childcare. On the other hand,
by alerting us to the lack of public childcare services, it calls into evidence a situation
that undermines women’s participation in the workforce and reduces their available
18
free time, limiting their ability to enjoy personal care services, that is, of services for
their own personal care.
Indicator 12: Demands for placement in senior retirement homes or nonresidential day centers, or for in-home nursing care
Definition
Percentage of primary female caregivers versus primary male caregivers for persons
aged 65 or older who seek placement in private or public senior retirement homes or
non-residential day centers, or in-home nursing care.
Differential variables:
dependency level, family ties, administrating agency.
Objective
To detect inequalities between men and women in the demand for care services for
dependent persons
Importance
Studies show that, in situations where one spouse is dependent and in need of special
care, women tend to nurse their husbands for longer periods of time than vice-versa,
and that male caregivers tend to seek placement for their dependent wives in retirement
homes, non-residential day centers, etc. When the caregiver is a daughter, the
difficulty of juggling paid work with unpaid care activities increases the likelihood that
she will ask for help.
This indicator should allow us to observe whether or not men have begun to assume
responsibility for care work.
C. CAPABILITY: ACCESS TO A LIFE THAT IS FREE OF VIOLENCE
The right to live in safety is directly related to the right to life in of all its forms,
including the right to existence and the right to survival.
The right to life is
irreplaceable and exercises a conditioning influence on all the other rights, which are
predicated on the right to life itself. To develop the right to life is to endow it with
conditions of physical, psychological and social subsistence in order to maintain a state
of biological equilibrium that allows for the enjoyment of all the other rights.
The word “safety” tends to arouse a certain amount of circumspection.
Historically, it has been understood in relation to the state, as the protection of state
territories from acts of external aggression, or as the protection of citizens (in a political
sense relating to public order).
However, in 1994 the UN Report on Human
Development expanded on the concept, relating it to human concerns and
preoccupations, to the way people live in society, and to their use of the various options
available to them. Here, “safety” is associated with peace and social opportunity. In the
19
discussion that follows, we use this revised definition of the term as it relates to
women’s abilities, perceptions and experiences, and to their possibilities of developing a
dignified space of their own.
To live in safety is to live free of violence. Women are exposed to various
forms of violence, especially those expressed through family relationships.
While
familial or spousal violence are more visible than other forms of violence against
women, and while the family continues to represent the principal focus for such
behavior, violence against women affects all realms of life, both public and private. Its
causes should not be sought in familial relationships but, rather, in the structure of
patriarchy with its deep-seated cultural norms and unequal distribution of power among
men and women. Violence against women includes any act that seeks to control,
coerce, discriminate against, compel, subordinate, or ignore women or any aspect of
their existence. The defining characteristic of violence against women is its sexualized
quality, the fact that it is inflicted on women simply because of their sex.
Women’s exposure to danger during the course of their daily lives also has to do
with their surroundings, since urban spaces are designed and organized according to the
needs of men with no regard for the safety and security of women. Some situations
caused by poor urban planning and design, as well as certain urban spaces including
some bridges, tunnels, plazas, bus and metro stops and parking lots, provoke feelings of
fear and insecurity among women (Massolo 2004). Thus, the ideal “safe city” is one
that considers the needs of women in its planning, security, transportation and facilities.
When violence against women escaped the confines of the private sphere and
began invading the public sphere through police reports and sensationalist media
coverage, the social space of violence shifted: it became domesticated, an object to be
tolerated and consumed. The public response to this situation has been to apply a
generalist and punitive model that confuses violence against women with domestic or
familial violence.
The government intervenes whenever an act of violence is socially visible, that
is, whenever it is very acute and intense. Nevertheless, the current insistence on a
harsher penal code is ill-considered and does not offer an efficient solution to the
problem at hand. The fact is that, despite the notable increase in punishments against
the perpetrators of domestic violence in recent years, women continue to experience
violence in one of its most brutal forms: family violence. This disturbing reality
20
bombards us with a continuous stream of women who have been killed or battered by
their partners or ex-partners.
The state law of 1/2004 entitled “General Measures Against Gender-Related
Violence,” uses the concept of legal guardianship to equate women with people or
situations of special vulnerability. This decision to treat women as vulnerable social
agents by comparing them to children or seniors only serves to legitimate patriarchal
discourse, while doing nothing to encourage women’s autonomy or decision-making
skills. Women need space, not an ever-widening web of legal protections. The legal
system does nothing more than accept and regulate individual cases of violence, thereby
diluting the collective, social and institutional responsibility for such acts.
The law is a tool that can be used to name or give meaning to certain conducts
associated with the patriarchal model, but the limited definition of violence it offers is
not enough. All forms of violence must be named and understood, so that they may be
recognized and made visible.
The degree to which the nature of the judicial system itself plays a dissuasive
role in the filing of police claims should also be analyzed. The judicial process is based
in objective and demonstrable facts and does not account for subjectivities, nor does it
make even the smallest concession to privacy issues. Thus, the woman who goes to
trial against her aggressor must publicly reveal numerous details about her private life,
including the pain she has experienced as a consequence of the attack, to a group of
strangers and without any guarantee of a favorable verdict. This situation is even worse
if her attacker is someone she knows and admires. Until the sentence is read, moreover,
the “innocent until proven guilty” rule means that victim and aggressor must be treated
with the same consideration and respect. These factors must be taken into account
when exploring the reasons behind many women’s reluctance to denounce their
aggressors. The issues surrounding immigrant women who have no right to legal
residence, or who have been threatened with deportation at the time of their attack, must
also be held in consideration.
Our information about the violence experienced by women has improved in
recent years, during which new ideas of violence have emerged. Nevertheless, the fact
that all of the available statistics come from the police and legal authorities and are
limited to cases of criminalized violence or those punishable under the law (such as
familial violence and the more extreme forms of physical violence, which attempt
against the life or physical integrity of women and cause wounds, concussions,
21
fractures, etc.) means that many violent acts against women are still invisible, and our
knowledge of them incomplete. To a much lesser degree, the data also refers to other
manifestations of violence against women, which include all the other ills brought on by
physical violence within the family, such as the creation of a violent home environment,
emotional abuse, sexual abuse, aggression, coerced action, etc.
INDICATORS FOR ACCESS TO A LIFE THAT IS FREE OF VIOLENCE
Indicator
Definition
1. Self-perceptions Number of women who report having experienced some form of
of violence
violence, whether or not they filed a claim with the police in
relation to that event.
2. Extent of
Number and percentage of women forced to live in situations of
violence against
violence, including those who self-classify as having been
women
abused and those who are subject to objective situations of
violence, but who fail to recognize their situation as such.
3. Grade of
Percentage of women who report being satisfied with the police
satisfaction with
and the administration of justice.
the police and the
legal system
4. Detection of
Number of women suffering from abuse or violence whose
emotional and
situation was indirectly detected in a healthcare center.
physical abuse in
primary healthcare
centers
5. Mid-term
Proportion of women who experience no sequels to violence,
victimization rates five years after an initial incident was reported.
6. Perception of
Percentage of women who report feeling insecure in their own
violence and
neighborhoods.
neighborhood
affiliation
7. Number of
Percentage of sexual attacks against women by strangers taking
automatic porters
place in urban buildings that lack security and do not have
in urban buildings. automatic porters in the lobbies, in comparison with the total
Lobby/entryway
number of women attacked in public spaces.
visibility
8. Violence
Proportion of sexually aggressive acts committed against women
against women in in metro tunnels, bus stops, parking lots and undeveloped areas.
public spaces
Discussion of four specific indicators
Indicator 1: Self-perceptions of violence
Definition
22
Number of women who report having suffered from an act of violence, independently
of whether or not they filed a claim with the police in relation to that event.
Differential variables: geographical origin, pertinence to a significant age group,
presence of children, social level, and geographical distribution.
Objective
To gauge the self-perceptions of women who have experienced violence, including
whether or not they perceive such violence as illegal and whether they have filed a
claim with the police in connection with the incident. To learn about the types of
conduct associated with the recurrent rise and fall in claim reports, and the index of
victimization3.
Importance
The available data only covers reported acts of violence. Data on violence against
women based on the direct perceptions and experiences of women is needed before the
phenomenon can be accurately portrayed. The significance of the data collected in this
category derives from the fact that the violence it describes was characterized as such
by women themselves. The possibility of presenting violence against women as a valid
and independent analytical category in surveys on public security reveals the problem
of violence against women as a civic safety issue.
Indicator 4: Detection of emotional and physical abuse in primary healthcare
centers
Definition
Number of women suffering from abuse or violence whose situation was indirectly
detected in a healthcare center. Differential variables: geographical origin, pertinence
to a significant age group, social status and geographical distribution.
Objective
To enable healthcare professionals to evaluate the warning signs of abuse and to detect
emergent situations of violence, thereby facilitating their early intervention on behalf of
the female and supporting the latter’s continued connection to reality and the
identification and mobilization of social resources. This indicator allows us to move
beyond mortality figures, which represent no more than the tip of the iceberg of this
problem of public health.
Importance
Violence against women is one of the most important issues currently facing the public
healthcare system, both because of its increasing incidence and because of its gravity as
a growing cause of death among women. Approximately one-third of women in the
world today have been abused, raped, or murdered. When they don’t lead to death, the
irreversible physical and psychological wounds resulting from such violence rob
women of years of life and also diminish their quality of life. Such emotional, sexual
and physical abuse has deep psychosomatic consequences and represents a serious
public health problem. Since the majority of the population makes use of the public
health system, public health centers should be seen as privileged places in which to
3
When we speak of “vicitimization” we are using an accepted terminology, but the term itself contains some
contradictions. The concept of “victimization” carries with it a form of devaluation, since it defines a person in terms
of what she has lost (value, physical integrity, etc.), and tells the story of a stigma that will accompany her over time.
When applied to women, the concept further reinforces the existing social image of women as weak and in need of
protection. The word “victim” conceals or covers over the courage of she (or he) who has been attacked and violated,
who must overcome the situation and go on with her or his life. If that person dies as a consequence of the attack, to
call her or him a “victim” puts everything that she/he has been or done during the course of her/his lifetime in a
secondary position.
23
identify situations of violence. This indicator is directly linked to the capability
“access to health.”
Indicator 6: Perceptions of violence and neighborhood affiliation
Definition
Percentage of women who report feeling safe in their own neighborhoods. Differential
variables: geographic origin, pertinence to a significant age group, social standing and
geographical distribution.
Objective
To show the connection between urban planning and design and the perception of
safety or danger among women.
Importance
The overall atmosphere and structural characteristics of a neighborhood play an
important role in fear and in the perception of that neighborhood as dangerous or
unsafe. A person who views her neighborhood as unpleasant is more likely to fear
crime. Space is not neutral; a good design can augment one’s feelings of safety. The
relevance of the communal context also influences feelings of security. Breaking down
the data according to neighborhood helps to strengthen neighborhood identity and
allows for better urban, social, economic and environmental planning.
Indicator 8: Violence against women in public spaces
Definition
Proportion of sexual attacks against women in metro terminals, bus stops, parking lots
and undeveloped zones. Differential variables: geographical origin, pertinence to a
significant age group, social standing, neighborhood, and time of attack.
Objective
To highlight the need for urban planners to consider issues of women’s safety when
designing public spaces and to acknowledge the fact that some urban areas, including
metro terminals, poorly located and dimly lit bus stops, parking lots and other
undeveloped zones, pose a particularly high risk for women.
Importance
With its long passageways and lack of security, the metro evokes deep feelings of
insecurity among women. This is especially true at night. Some bus stops are located
in dangerous, isolated areas with poor visibility. The lack of adequate lighting and
nocturnal security complete this panorama of extreme danger to women, and it would
be interesting to compare this category with the proposed crime indicator.
4. CONCLUSION
As we explained earlier, the goal of this study was to develop a set of non-androcentric
indicators that seek to recover female experience and draw attention to the specific
24
problems affecting women in today’s society, a society conceived and organized around
male experiences and values.
As we have seen, such experiences traverse all the areas analyzed in this paper,
and of course in many others as well. That is, women’s unrecognized experiences, and
the specific difficulties that they encounter as a result of the current androcentric model
can be found in all areas of life and not only (as is sometimes thought) in the workplace,
with its distinction between men’s and women’s work.
Our focus on capabilities and, more specifically, on their contribution to the
well-being of individualities within the population as a whole, has proven useful in light
of the proposed goal. More specifically, it has allowed us recast a number of issues
familiar to scholars and political analysts alike, arranging them in a new way. This way
of dealing with the situation, which implies a specific choice of indicators, facilitates an
integral approach to the analysis of the different areas of human life. People are not
divided into static compartments; the actions and emotions of our lives are intimately
connected to each other and, what is more, they condition one another.
This is why focus matters, and why we need to continue developing and finetuning the line of analysis in this perspective, since the focus it applies is relatively new
and promising. With its emphasis on the interrelatedness between different analytical
categories and the many possible combinations produced therein, such an approach is
particularly needed in the realm of statistical analysis and during the calculation of
indicators. The latter application is particularly interesting, and ought to be taken up by
the public sector.
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