Protecting, Empowering, or Penalizing Motherhood? The Contradictory Treatment of Women in Chilean Social Policies

Abstract

This article contributes to the discussion of gendered social policy in Latin America. Despite considerable attention to the Chilean case, few studies have provided a comparative analysis of how the articulation of gender through motherhood differs across social sectors. We contrast the case of the health sector with the examples of housing and labor market policies to demonstrate that the framing of motherhood in Chilean social policies is not uniformly articulated. We note the diverse and contradictory nature of gendered narratives and practices across the sectors and argue that it still predominantly shapes women’s access to social policy.

Is Support for Feminism Enough for Change? How Sexism and Gender Stereotypes Might Hinder Gender Justice

“…Therefore, paradoxically, an apparent behavior to improve social justice for women (i.e., confronting sexism) contributes to perpetuating the status quo. This paradox is also present in certain Chilean public policies aimed at improving women's living conditions, but rooted in traditional gender stereotypes, contradictory notions and homogenizing views of women (see Murray, 2013;Gideon et al, 2021;Murray and Tapia, 2021). All profiles showed similar support for traditional gender stereotypes.…”

Untitled

“…En un contexto de predominio de roles convencionales de género, es más probable que las mujeres recurran a la maternidad para dar legitimidad a sus demandas y que estas sean consideradas lícitas si se enmarcan en la función maternal. Sin embargo, no deja de ser un enfoque complejo para la política pública, ya que cuando la identidad de las mujeres se equipara a la de madres, la maternidad fácilmente se transforma en la única identidad permitida que tienen las mujeres para ser reconocidas en la esfera pública (Gideon et al, 2021;Ramm y Gideon, 2020). En la siguiente sección nos enfocaremos en analizar las distintas prácticas y discursos sobre género y maternidad en distintos ámbitos de política pública y sus consecuencias para avanzar hacia una mayor autonomía femenina e igualdad de género.…”