A new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) offers an overview of national laws, policies and practices on care, including maternity, paternity, parental, child and long-term care.

The agency highlights how some workers are outside the scope of these legal protections, including those who are self-employed, employees of the informal economy, immigrants and adoptive and LGBTQI parents.

The arguments in favor of greater investment in care and its possible impact are also analyzed, while highlighting how only in 40 of the countries surveyed do pregnant or lactating women have the right to be protected against dangerous or unhealthy work, according to ILO standards.

It adds that only 53 nations offer the right to paid time off for prenatal medical examinations, while others lacked time off, income security and adequate facilities for breastfeeding.

“We have to rethink the way we provide care measures and services that give children a good start, help women stay in employment, and prevent families or individuals from falling into poverty”, said Director of ILO’s Conditions of Work and Equality, Manuela Tomei.

The text exemplified that three out of 10 women of reproductive age, 649 million, have inadequate maternity protection that does not meet the key requirements of the 2000 Maternity Protection Convention, despite being a human and labor universal right.

It also mentions that more than 1.2 billion men of reproductive age live in countries that do not have the right to paternity leave, although it would help balance the work and family responsibilities of mothers and fathers.

The use of this alternative is also low as a result, according to the report, of low pay for fatherhood, gender norms and policy design.

According to the ILO text, there is a strong argument for investments that allow a transformation of care policies, based on universal access, which would create an innovative way to build a better and more equal world of work from the point of gender view.

ef/oda/crc