Faced with the ruling of the Federal Court of Appeals of Salta that intends to validate that “every citizen” can request the suspension of the law of voluntary interruption of pregnancy, a group of civil society organizations filed an appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (CSJN).

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Amnesty International (AI), the Latin American Justice and Gender Team (ELA), the Women x Women Foundation (MxM), the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps) and the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) requested the highest court of Justice in the country to reject any attempt to restrict the rights of women, girls, adolescents and people with childbearing capacity.

Although the ruling of the Chamber of Salta does not affect the validity of Law 27,610, it is imperative that the CSJN accompany its own jurisprudence on the right to legally interrupt a pregnancy (FAL ruling) and the decisions that from the sanction of the law has issued the judiciary around the country, and rejects actions that seek to prevent women from exercising their right to a legal abortion.

The law of access to voluntary interruption of pregnancy meant a feminist conquest in line with international human rights law. It was approved by Congress after a broad and participatory debate.

Admitting that any citizen can act on behalf of the “unborn” against the rights of women and people with childbearing capacity is contrary to the National Constitution because it violates their right to make autonomous decisions within their private sphere and without interference by third parties, the principle of division of powers and self-restriction of the Judiciary, and the constitutional guarantee of due process.

On the facts

In December 2020, the former Salta senator María Cristina Fiore Viñuales filed a lawsuit against the Protocol for the Comprehensive Care of People with the Right to Legal Interruption of Pregnancy of 2019. She then expanded her petition requesting the unconstitutionality of Law 27.610 This action was considered inadmissible in the first instance. On August 27, the Federal Court of Appeals of Salta reversed that decision.

In addition to validating the collective representation of fetal life, the lawsuit sends out a worrying message because it reinstates a violent network against women who decide not to continue with a pregnancy. It not only calls for the suspension of the law, but also requests that measures be ordered that could involve violence against women.

Additional Information

The signatory organizations had already appeared in the cause in April of this year on behalf of the group of women and people with other gender identities with the capacity to gestate.

Link to presentation

Today they arrested a doctor at the Juan Domingo Perón Hospital, in Tartagal, in Salta, for practicing a Legal Interruption of Pregnancy. The practice was requested by a patient of legal age, in full exercise of her autonomy. To apply for the practice, he traveled more than 53 kilometers to the hospital. The 21-year-old girl was in the 22nd week of pregnancy.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

When she was received at the health center, she was cared for by an interdisciplinary team made up of a doctor, a social worker and a psychologist. He had separate interviews with each of them, who also informed the director (manager) of the hospital, who found that it was the causal health and that it was duly justified.

Article 86 of the Penal Code allows abortion until week 14 without having to give explanations about the reasons for doing so. It also allows abortion if the pregnancy to be interrupted was the product of rape or if the life or integral health of the pregnant person was at risk. The latter was the case of the young woman from Salta.

The young woman was accompanied throughout the process and was cared for by professionals who guaranteed her rights and listened to her.

From within the hospital, professionals opposed to the comprehensive health of women, seeing that they could not interrupt the process, decided to summon the young woman’s family. In this way, they violated his right to confidentiality and contravened his will.

Her relatives arrived in the middle of the procedure and the young woman had a moment of doubts, but immediately decided to continue with the procedure and expressed it. It is important to note that the complaint to the doctor was not made by the young woman, whose rights were not violated, but by a relative.

The procedures performed by the medical team are within the law and each step taken was accompanied with conviction by the hospital management and recorded in the medical record. The doctor who was arrested today in an intimidating and disciplinary scene in her workplace, is the only non-objector professional, who guarantees the right to comprehensive health for women and other people with the ability to gestate in the area. This afternoon she was released.

We believe that it is essential to respect the privacy of the young woman, as neither the objector doctors who called relatives, nor the media that fall into morbidity without real data, nor the judicial power that could have saved the staging of the disciplinary detention. It is also essential that those who put obstacles to access the rights arising from a democratic society receive the corresponding sanctions.

Guaranteeing rights is not a crime.

Firms:

  • Amnistía Internacional Argentina
  • Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir
  • CEDES
  • CELS
  • ELA
  • Fundación Huésped
  • Fundeps
  • FUSA AC
  • Mujeres x Mujeres
  • REDAAS

This Thursday the Superior Court of Justice of Córdoba rejected the appeals that sought to suspend Law 27,610 on Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in our province through a precautionary measure. In this way, it confirms that the regulations continue to be in full force throughout the province.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

With a large majority, the members emphasized the presumption of legitimacy that the law has because it is an act of public power, affirming that it is the link of a policy “in matters of public health.” In short, the Supreme Court held that the validity of a law cannot be suspended by means of a precautionary measure with general scope without damaging the principle of division of powers, as requested by the plaintiff.

In this sense, they emphasized that “the Judicial Power lacks constitutional powers” to review “in the abstract or to interfere” in the legislative policy decisions adopted by “Congress, the quintessential representative of the popular will.” They also highlighted that this law is the result of a democratic debate and has broad social support.

The legalization of abortion brought greater autonomy and freedom in our decisions. Law 27,610 makes the entire judicial and health system adapt to the rights that we managed to conquer and to which the Argentine state was bound both domestically and internationally.

We are facing a new conquest of feminisms. In alliance, we continue working so that all women and people with the ability to carry a child have legal, safe and free access to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy.

DOWNLOAD THE STATEMENT

Clínica de Litigio de Interés Público Córdoba

Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir

Fundeps

Together with the Provincial University of Córdoba (UPC), we began a mapping of training needs of organizations of the Popular, Feminist, Social and Solidarity Economy of the province. The results will be reflected in training proposals adjusted to the requirements of these spaces.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

In order to collect the most relevant and common problems that arise when sustaining these organizations, this survey will result in the design and delivery of training proposals that arise from their own needs.

We bet on the collective construction of knowledge and we value the situated proposals that are significant for organizations that build and sustain the local economy, from alternatives to the logics of looting and capital accumulation.

Therefore, if you are part of or know of any of these organizations, we invite you to complete and / or share the form. So that we can develop a relevant, meaningful and coherent training proposal with your needs.

ACCESS THE FORM

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org

Focusing mainly on students, professionals and workers in the health field, Fundeps, Ecos and Andhes launch a cycle of virtual meetings where different aspects related to the voluntary and legal interruption of pregnancy will be addressed, from a comprehensive and interdisciplinary.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

Through 4 free webinars of national scope, work will be done on protocols, legal framework, safe techniques, ways of monitoring situations and other tools to take into account regarding Law 27,610.

The first meeting will be on August 27 at 6:00 p.m. It will focus on conditions and standards of application of IVE / ILE, conscientious objection and responsibility of health professionals and will have the participation of Marisa Herrera, Doctor in Law from the University of Buenos Aires, CONICET researcher and teacher .

The second meeting, to be held on September 10 at 6:00 p.m., will focus on the comprehensive approach and safe abortion techniques. It will have as exhibitors Dras. Mariana Romero and Nadya Scherbovsky. Mariana is a doctor, a researcher at CEDES / CONICET, she is a member of the Safe Abortion Access Network and technically assists health teams in the implementation of services. Nadya, for her part, is a general and family doctor, and a member of the Córdoba Integral Health Clinic, the ECOS Foundation and the Network of Health Professionals for the Right to Decide.

Then, on October 4, the third meeting will take place, and it will be attended by Luis Pedernera, a member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. This meeting will be focused on analyzing access to the Legal and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy in girls and adolescents.

Finally, the last meeting on October 15 will take place with a workshop dynamic, where cases will be addressed that allow participants to analyze practical situations to be able to carry out accompaniments from a rights perspective.

Registration is free and free through this form, and you can participate in the full cycle or in each meeting separately.

SIGN UP

This Wednesday, an opinion signed by Juan Manuel Delgado, Attorney General of Córdoba, was published in the press within the framework of the judicial case promoted by former legislator Aurelio García Elorrio that seeks to suspend in the provincial territory the effective implementation of Law 27,610 of Voluntary termination of pregnancy.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

The opinion arises in the framework of the appeal that García Elorrio presented after the Administrative Litigation Chamber rejected the precautionary measure requested in the amparo that seeks to suspend Law 27,610 in Córdoba. To resolve, the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) must notify all parties and also the Attorney General in order to issue an opinion on the matter, but it is in no way binding and may even be rejected.

It is not less than the letter has also been signed by the deputy prosecutor Pablo Bustos Fierro, with the explicit intention of avoiding that at the time of ruling, it is still pending to resolve its separation requested by the intervening associations. It is also worrying that the resolution is public before being available for the view of those who intervene in the judicial case. The TSJ has not yet issued on the matter, that is to say that the opinion was presented irregularly without being resolved the recusal of the prosecutor.

From Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD), Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps) and Legal Clinic of Public Interest Córdoba (CLIP) we express our concern about such untidiness that we consider is not innocent and confirms our concern in relation to the suitability of said official to act with the objectivity and respect for the legality required by said function.

Prior to their appointment, Fundeps and the Institute for Comparative Studies in Criminal and Social Sciences (INECIP) participated in the public hearing at the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Justice and Agreement of the Córdoba Legislature, which evaluated their specifications to warn about their lack of suitability and its position contrary to the human rights of women and people with childbearing capacity. In the letter that we signed together with more than 40 civil society organizations, we spoke out against his appointment for publicly advancing a position against abortion, an issue on which he should decide later.

The suspension of the right to access the IVE through a precautionary measure and would imply a setback and irreparable damage for women and pregnant people in Córdoba who would be unable to access a basic human right such as health. It should be remembered that the Provincial Justice has already issued on these issues in the action filed by Portal de Belén against the provincial Protocol of Non-Punishable Abortion in 2019, where the amparo was rejected for lack of a specific case.

In the same way, we point out that this type of filings against the IVE Law have been raised throughout the country and most of them have already been rejected by virtue of their inadmissibility. Access to the legal and voluntary interruption of pregnancy is fully valid in the province of Córdoba, as in the entire national territory, despite attempts to obstruct its access through abusive and openly inappropriate prosecutions.

This law represents an advance in the guarantee of the right to life, physical and mental integrity, health, autonomy, freedom and equality of women and people with the capacity to bear children. We are not going to allow undemocratic actions that violate human rights carried out by anti-rights groups to harm it. We continue to work together for our rights.

Contact:

Clínica de Litigio de Interés Público Córdoba
Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir

Fundeps
3513251601 – 3513294497

Together with the Latin American Feminist Incubator, we advanced in the process of strengthening the self-managed and community organizations of the province of Córdoba that were selected after the call for scholarships.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

The call for scholarships to strengthen self-managed and community organizations in Córdoba ended on May 14 with 67 registered organizations from across the province. The number of organizations that applied for this call reveals two trends. On the one hand, the large number of self-managed spaces of the Popular, Feminist, Ecological, Social and Solidarity Economy that exist in the province and that show that Another economy exists and is possible. However, and here is the other trend, the need for comprehensive public policies that promote them is notable.

All the spaces that were nominated show a diversity of organizational forms and self-managed activities that represent a great contribution to the community and local economies, which made the selection process an arduous instance full of reviews and discussions.

Following the selection and priority criteria announced in the call, we selected 7 beneficiary organizations for a total grant: Aquelarre VCP, Comadres, Mercado Coop, MEPA, Hacé Pinta, Mokitas and Alternativa Marginal. We will be working together with them until October in an intense strengthening process.

Between May and June, we began a diagnostic process that consisted of a self-diagnosis survey and then a personal interview with each organization to identify their perceptions and realities regarding the obstacles and particular strengths that each of them has identified. This stage is fundamental as it allows to recognize, project, and build an economic sustainability plan based on the own experiences, desires, needs, realities and expectations of each organization.

From July to September, we will advance with the strengthening process itself, consisting of a series of trainings, practical application workshops, personalized meetings with members of each organization, and mentoring. This stage is the central node of the strengthening process for the economic sustainability of these organizations. Throughout this stage, spaces for meeting and joint construction will be generated, sharing interests, positions, projects and knowledge, in pursuit of the economic sustainability of the selected organizations.

We hope that, through this project and together with the different self-managed organizations selected, we can advance in the construction, implementation and evaluation of tools for the diagnosis, planning and management of resources so that a self-managed space not only sustains itself financially but also collaborate in the sustainability of the lives of its members.

More info:

Contact:
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org
Incubadora Feminista, hola@incubadorafeminista.com

Next Monday, July 12 -from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.- we will present, together with a group of organizations, the Argentine Network of Community Advocacy, a space for articulation, support, advocacy and learning between organizations and legal professionals from all over the country, that we work for access to rights and legal empowerment of vulnerable people or groups. To participate, register here.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

Taking into account the great difficulties that social organizations and activists encounter in defending the rights of vulnerable groups, from ACIJ, FUNDEPS, TECHO, CAPIBARA, XUMEK – REPAD and ANDHES we saw the need to create a Community Advocacy Network to solve legal needs and structural problems that similarly affect large groups: people with disabilities, migrants, women, children and adolescents, the elderly, indigenous peoples, people deprived of liberty, victims of institutional violence , among others.

We seek to face with collective strategies the great obstacles that exist when practicing social advocacy and, in this way, guarantee effective access to the rights of their communities.

We are waiting for you next Monday, July 12 -from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.- to the presentation of this initiative, which is in permanent construction, to continue adding contributions from organizations and activists who want to be part of it.

What is RAAC?

RAAC is the Argentine Network of Community Advocacy. Its objective is to build a space for articulation, support, advocacy and learning among legal professionals from all over the country, who work for access to rights and the legal empowerment of vulnerable people or groups.

Goals

  • Generate alliances, synergies and solidarity between social organizations, professionals and activists that work in the field of community advocacy and community legal empowerment.
  • To promote greater visibility of the different local experiences linked to the subject.
  • Carry out an advocacy agenda in local and national public policies, linked to community advocacy and legal empowerment.
  • Increase the national debate on community advocacy and its development as a disciplinary field.
  • Generate a learning community that respects the plurality of thoughts and opinions, strengthens community growth and contributes to the development of the capacities and abilities of all those who are linked to community advocacy and legal empowerment

Para participar del evento, inscribite en este formulario.

 

Since its enactment at the end of last year, the IVE law is in full force and its first effects are already being verified in access to practice in health centers throughout the country. Meanwhile, in court, conservative sectors continue to try actions to postpone it.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

The Law of Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy No. 27,610, sanctioned at the end of 2020 and in force since January 24, 2021, implied an important deepening of human rights for women and pregnant persons.

Half a year later, access to abortion is making its way into all health subsystems across the country. In Córdoba, there are more than 100 health establishments that already guarantee this right. On May 28, International Day of Action for Women’s Health, the Ministry of Health of the Nation presented the update of the protocol for the comprehensive care of people with the right to Voluntary and Legal Interruption of Pregnancy.

The new protocol

The protocol constitutes an instrument that aims to offer guidance to health teams, providing them with a regulatory framework and clinical guidelines for precise and clear care that allows them to carry out the termination of pregnancy. Compliance with the highest standards of care is contemplated, that is, those that imply respect for quality, accessibility, confidentiality, technical competence, range of available options and updated scientific information.

From a clinical point of view, the protocol incorporates international recommendations on procedures for the legal termination of pregnancy – drug dose and manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) – and reinforces the importance of rapid access to comprehensive care, reinforcing the need resolution in the first level of care and in drug treatments.

In other words, it implies reinsurance so that girls, adolescents, women and people with the capacity to carry a child receive dignified treatment and quality care, thus guaranteeing IVE until week 14 of the gestational process inclusive and the ILE when appropriate.

As it is a document that sets out certain references on how to carry out the procedure, it is not necessary for the provinces to adhere to it in order to make the implementation of National Law 27,610 effective. In other words, the law is operative regardless of the adherence or validity of the protocol.

The judicialization here and there

In different parts of the country, legal actions were initiated that marked from the first minute a strong sense of legal insecurity for those who have the right to access the practice. There are already more than 30 actions filed against the law. Most of them have been rejected without further proceedings, but excessive judicialization creates obstacles to access and confusion among users.

In Córdoba, at the beginning of April, Aurelio García Elorrio, a reference for the civil association Portal de Belén, filed an amparo against the province requesting the unconstitutionality of the law, and in turn, requested a precautionary measure to suspend the validity of the law, the which was rejected immediately. Faced with this, he filed an appeal that is currently being processed before the Superior Court of Justice.

In this case, the Public Interest Litigation Clinic, Catholics for the Right to Decide and Fundeps present ourselves as interested third parties in order to protect the rights of the group of women and pregnant persons of Córdoba. It is important to clarify that this process does not alter the validity of the law, which continues to be applicable and enforceable throughout the provincial territory.

Meanwhile, in Mar del Plata, at the beginning of June, Federal Court No. 4 in charge of First Instance Judge Alfredo Eugenio Lopez, issued a precautionary measure suspending the effects of the law, the protocol and other resolutions.

The National State immediately appeared in the file, challenging the judge for cause and appealing the precautionary measure. Thus, the case was left in the hands of the surrogate judge, Santiago José Martín, who granted the appeal with suspensive effect of the measure. This means that the injunction granted no longer has effect until the Chamber of Mar del Plata is issued on the appeal.

Faced with this panorama and by virtue of the importance of the case, from Fundeps we present ourselves in the file as “friends of the court”, with the aim of providing human rights arguments, specifically on the right to health and sexual and reproductive rights. and non-reproductive.

It is elementary to think of Law 27,610 as a public health policy representative of fundamental human rights standards. These lawsuits are not mere isolated events, but constitute a form of activism that hinders and limits a basic health practice of sexual health. In Córdoba we already know the effects of the judicialization of the provincial guide for the care of non-punishable abortions that Portal de Belén began in 2012. This case had the consequence that women and pregnant people of Córdoba who were in qualified situations by the Penal Code to access the practice of non-punishable abortion could not do so in this jurisdiction during all the years in which the amparo was pending resolution, resulting in a serious impact on their most basic human rights, despite the fact that later it was The action was rejected due to lack of case and lack of standing.

Faced with this scenario, the competent courts in cases where the law is under discussion have the opportunity to establish clear guidelines regarding the protection of fundamental rights such as sexual and (non) reproductive rights. A solution that respects these rights is simply to maintain the validity of Law 27,610 on Access to Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy, not giving rise to the requested precautionary measures.

 

Authors:

Agostina Copetti

Sofia Mongi

Contact: 

Mayca Balaguer

In the early morning of June 11, the Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in the Communication Services of the Argentine Republic was enacted. A Lley product of the feminist struggles in favor of a democratization in the media organizations in both labor spheres and as producers of meaning.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

The media have a fundamental role in the construction and reproduction of meanings and representations about social and subjective reality. As such, they can contribute to the support and justification of inequalities or they can question them, both from their speeches through the content they produce and disseminate as well as within themselves, being understood as work spaces with a specific labor organization.
Investigating how media content is produced, who produces it, what is their training and trajectory, and what place each one occupies within the media allows us to have a map of the situation to address the violence and structural gender inequalities that they reproduce within these spaces.
The media companies, specifically the large commercial media, are characterized by their work structure founded from an androcentric approach. What has conditioned the income, permanence, development and work performance of women and, of course, has excluded transvestite, trans, intersex and non-binary people.
This is visible in the labor trajectories differentiated by gender:

Source: Chaher and Pedraza (2018). Media and gender organizations. Córdoba: Fundeps, Communicate Equality.

To make this graph, only binary data were obtained in terms of gender, that is why it has not been possible to reconstruct work trajectories taking into account the diversity of identities, such as transvestites, trans, intersex and non-binary people. At the time the investigation was carried out, there was only a single trans person working in one of the Córdoba media. Currently there is some progress in this regard, although it remains insufficient. It is possible to recognize the structural gender inequalities that make it difficult, even more than for cisgender women, to access employment, particularly in these types of companies with diverse and dissident identities.

Now, when observing the graph, it is possible to notice that although most of the people who graduate from careers related to communication in the city of Córdoba and Buenos Aires are women, less than half of them go to work in the media commercial. Even fewer are promoted to higher positions, a situation that is reproduced again, although with a deeper inequality, in union spaces.
These career paths are traversed by personal paths. Unpaid domestic and care work falls mainly on women and femininity, affecting their autonomy. As a result, they are the majority among part-time workers and hired under precarious regimes in order to reconcile their working life with unequally distributed care responsibilities. To this must be added micro-chauvinisms and all types of violence that are combined with masculinity pacts, which perpetuate these unequal and exclusive structures.

The lack of gender and care policies, as well as the lack of gender awareness and training in a transversal manner, or the delegation of this responsibility to feminist communicators and gender editors, are some of the obstacles that many of the media companies most important in the country have not been able to overcome. Even in a context of profound changes in favor of gender equality and the demands of the audiences.

What does the law say?

The recently enacted Law of Equity in the Representation of Genders in Communication Services of the Argentine Republic is inserted in a national and international legal framework and of historical claims of various social and feminist movements, of which it is the result. Claims that were previously reflected in national legislation, such as Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the areas in which they develop their interpersonal relationships, Law 26,743 on Gender Identity and the Law 26,522 of Audiovisual Communication Services, among others. As well as public policies, such as the creation of the Public Defender’s Office and the AFSCA, were the result of the commitments assumed by the State in the fight against gender violence.

Its purpose is “to promote equity in the representation of genders from a perspective of sexual diversity in communication services, whatever the platform used” in all the country’s communication media, although it is only mandatory for those of management state. This law does not seek parity, but goes further: it is based on the principle of equity and the inclusion of all gender gender identities in all positions of the media labor structures, breaking with binarism. the promotion of democratization and diversity of voices and their labor structures.

This democratization process from a gender and diversity perspective is understood as gradual, gradual and only mandatory for state-run media, while privately managed media will be encouraged through the preference in assigning official guidelines in cases to carry out measures in the sense proposed by this law.

These positive action measures move away from the punitive paradigm to establish proactive policies that encourage transformations respecting the times and processes of each privately managed media.

In turn, the corresponding authority will be created for the implementation of the law in order to guarantee its compliance.

We celebrate these legal advances that are the result of the insistent struggle of feminist movements, especially feminist communicators and journalists who in their daily practices sustained, and still do, transformations inside and outside their work spaces. We are aware that the struggle does not end with the enactment of a law, but requires a comprehensive and intersectional implementation plan to achieve real equality and make the rights formally sanctioned tangible.

We will keep our attention on the implementation of the law and the public policies designed and carried out to achieve it.

Más información:

In Argentina, legislation and public policies on care have made progress but also obstacles. Within the framework of the International Day of Domestic Workers and the 8th anniversary of the enactment of Law 26,844 on the Special Regime of Work Contract for Personnel of Private Houses, we highlight the importance of the legislation and regulation of the work of those who they take care of it in a remunerated way, although we recognize that there is still a lot of hard work in pursuit of its effectiveness and expansion.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

In the 1950s, the first laws related to domestic work appeared, in order to define labor relations and their rights as workers.

But it was not until 2013 when Law 26,844 was enacted, which established a special work contract regime for paid workers in private homes. This law regulates the labor relations that are established within private homes or in the sphere of family life and that do not generate a direct profit or economic benefit for the employer. It defines this work as any provision of cleaning, maintenance or other typical household activities services, personal assistance and accompaniment to family members or those who live in the same home with the employer, and the non-therapeutic care of sick or disabled people.

In this process, activism and later the union organization of private house workers, has been key in the fight for their rights. The Union of Auxiliary Personnel of Private Houses (UPACP), which encompasses the workers of private houses, “carries out its tasks of defense and representation of the workers in the sector since the beginning of the last century. Today the workers have a law that regulates the activity, No. 26,844, which equates, as appropriate, the work of domestic service to that of workers from other unions. Now the workers of private homes have the right to vacations, maternity leave, among all labor rights. ”

This law tries to put the rights of private house workers on an equal footing with those of any other worker in a formal and dependent relationship. However, the characteristics of domestic work, related to the private sphere, the invisible, with the duty assigned to women to care for and give love in a disinterested, selfless way and without any type or with little remuneration and recognition, It makes it difficult for these activities to be considered as work and those who perform it, as workers.

Labor market of private house workers

Law 26844 not only establishes the regime of private house workers but also different categories according to the type of work that was developed in the domestic sphere. These categories translate into salary scales:

www.upacp.org.ar

 

However, this recognition is far from meaning the realization of their labor rights.

According to a report by the National Directorate of Economy, Equality and Gender, in Argentina, the main occupation of women is paid domestic service: it represents 16.5% of the total employment of employed women and 21.5% of wage earners. It is the most feminized activity in the market (96.5% are women), the one with the highest informality rate (72.4%) and the one with the lowest average income in the market, constituting the poorest workers of the entire economy. This means that a domestic worker earns 46 pesos for every 100 that a private sector employee receives and 30 pesos for every 100 that a formal worker receives. Compared to men, they earn 26 pesos for every 100 pesos that one of them earns. According to the ILO, this informality and precariousness generates the breach of rights and a space for labor exploitation, even of girls and adolescents.

For Candelaria Botto: “In our country, where the State does not satisfy these needs, the role of domestic workers becomes essential for a large number of households. However, this work takes place mostly in precarious conditions and with low remuneration, which shows the little social value that is given to reproductive work. ”

Even with all these limitations on access to rights, it is likely that a registered employee, whose labor relations are regulated by a legal framework, is in better working conditions.

That the autonomy of some does not take it away from others

Now, who are the women that make up this group of domestic workers?

Mercedes D´Alessandro, in her book “Economía Femini (s) ta”, affirms that the “fairy godmothers” who sustain the lives of those who inhabit the households with the highest income are women in situations of vulnerability and poverty. Many of them have dependent children and most have not been able to complete secondary school (only 2% of them completed a tertiary degree or university). As a result, 40% of poor mothers are private house workers.

They are women who need to work but are not qualified to access other types of employment. In addition, it is usually one of the first job options for women from other countries, although the percentage of internal migrants among these workers is more remarkable. Many young women see this job as a way out of poverty, but end up living in a utility room of a wealthy family that does not pay them a Christmas bonus, vacation or sick days.

At this point, it is important to think about the tense link between paid and unpaid forms of care. Given the unjust social organization that distributes care, paid and unpaid care work falls mainly on women. That is why it is always necessary for a woman to take care of, to “free” another of these tasks. And here, it is not only the stubborn persistence of the sexual division of labor that undermines advances in favor of a more just and equitable society, but it is also other factors of inequality and oppression that overlap with gender. The class and powerful processes of racialization that still persist go through caregiving.

As domestic work is, to a great extent, carried out by poor women, peasants, migrants, representatives of various ethnic groups, with low education and little education, who find in this activity a means of subsistence, it is one of the most devalued jobs not only in economic terms but also in social terms. Thus, families with higher incomes can turn to the market to free up time, which implies hiring another, poorer woman to do domestic and care work.

As D’Alessandro says: “behind every great woman, there is another great woman.”

This invites us to think about care in a feminist and intersectional way, which puts care work at the center of the scene and de-romanticizes it. Because the lack of decent wages and real access to labor rights is not compensated with gratitude and love.

As Sol Minoldo says: “How feminist can a process be in which some women emancipate themselves at the expense of others, leaving the sexual distribution of domestic work intact?

If there is exploitation, it does not stop there because the worker is treated with affection and the trust of our intimate life is opened to her, although it may be noticed a little less. It is time to question the way in which “love” has been used to make it invisible that domestic work is work, whoever does it. That love is not an excuse to deny workers their rights. ”

Although the importance of care and of those who care – especially during the pandemic – has become increasingly visible, this has not yet translated into salary improvements in the case of paid domestic and care work. We still owe a debt to the people they care for. With domestic workers, there are still huge social, cultural and economic gaps to fill. They perform essential work but in precarious and irregular conditions, with miserable wages that are barely enough for them to access the basic food basket.The gaps and obstacles that these workers face every day are an impediment to real access to their rights as workers, as women and as people.

Author

A group of more than 30 organizations in Córdoba prepared a letter expressing our concern over the eventual appointment of Juan Manuel Delgado as Attorney General of the province of Córdoba.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”

Today the Legislature of Córdoba is voting for the nomination of Juan Manuel Delgado to the position of Attorney General of the province of Córdoba. The position, by Constitutional mandate, is proposed by the provincial executive and must have the agreement of the Legislature.

Last Thursday, March 11, we attended the Public Hearing that was held and presented observations on some aspects that we consider critical. In this sense, we highlight the lack of independence that we consider to exist when nominating a person who is currently serving in the executive branch, as well as the lack of training and experience in criminal matters, human rights, gender and diversities and environmental problems.

Today, more than 30 organizations made public our concerns regarding the appointment of the proposed Prosecutor. Although they take up some of the points raised at the Hearing, this open letter places special emphasis on the threat that we warn regarding the validity of the sexual and (non) reproductive rights that have been achieved, given the candidate’s previous connections and his statements in the Commission. of Constitutional Affairs.

Contact

Nina Sibilla, ninasibilla@fundeps.org

Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org