Leave policy across Latin America: a story of expansion, plateauing and the need for unconventional instruments

Abstract

This chapter presents an analytical model that, based on the contribution of parenting leave studies for European countries and typologies created to analyse welfare and care policies for Latin America, enables us to identify and characterize different types of parenting leave according to their quest for gender equality and universal social protection. We then apply this model and discuss the advances, continuity and challenges in parenting leave. Finally, as a result of the analysis, we close the chapter advocating for the need to consider alternatives to detach leave benefits from contributory social protection schemes and rethink the existing gender division of carework.