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Explaining New Patterns in Family Leave Policies in Latin America: Competing Visions and Facilitating Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2021

Marisa Hawley Open the ORCID record for Marisa Hawley [Opens in a new window]  and
Matthew E. Carnes Open the ORCID record for Matthew E. Carnes [Opens in a new window]
Marisa Hawley
Affiliation:
Marisa Hawley is a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate and a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Washington, DC, USA. Mah287@georgetown.edu.
Matthew E. Carnes
Affiliation:
Matthew E. Carnes, S.J. is an associate professor of government and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA. Matthew.Carnes@georgetown.edu.
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Abstract

Recent years have seen the rapid passage and modification of family leave policies in Latin America, a surprising trend, given the region’s historically conservative gender norms. This article argues that the rise of new paternity leave policies—as well as the modifications to longer-standing maternity leave policies—reflects contending visions of gender and the family, mediated by the institutions and actors that populate the region’s political landscape. Using an original dataset of family policy measures, this article finds that the factors facilitating the adoption of new, vanguard policies, such as paternity leave, function in ways different from those that shape the expansion of longer-standing policies, including maternity leave.

Keywords

Family policymaternity leavepaternity leavegenderlaborsocial policy
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 100 - 121
Copyright
© The Authors, 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

Conflict of interest: We, Marisa Hawley and Matthew Carnes, declare none.

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