Abstract
Care policies are public policies that assign resources to care in the form of money, services and time. They range from payments and subsidies to caregivers or to people who need care and the direct provision of care services to complementary service provision, such as water and sanitation. They also include labour regulations such as maternity protection and paternity leave and the regulation of paid working times, which assign time to care. This broad definition of care policies builds on the Sustainable Development Goal 5 ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’, which in its Target 5.4 calls for ‘the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies’. This chapter reviews the linkages between care policies implemented in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, the different conceptualizations of care – reflected in the framing of care policies and their relation to gender equality policies more broadly – and the different actors shaping care policies and their implementation. The ultimate aim of this review is to identify the elements that contribute to bring about the transformative potential of care policies.