The Right to Care at Stake: The Syndemic Emergency in Latin America

Abstract

Considering simultaneous threats, we base our analysis on rights and gender, which together go beyond a single focus on the cause and effects of the pandemic. We propose a dynamic approach to analyzing this syndemic and its effects on structural inequalities. To explain interdependencies in the case of COVID-19, we analyze relational phenomena conditioned by gender and by financial and political arrangements in which persistent inequalities and disregard for individual rights affect the daily lives of individuals and communities. Women were especially affected by the COVID-19 crisis, particularly domestic workers, women in poverty with no income of their own, and remunerated and unremunerated care workers. Confined to their homes, if they had homes, these people had little opportunity to enjoy rights and autonomy.