Oxfam reaction to Brazil, Mexico and Colombia's launch of a care investment initiative

Oxfam has joined the new care initiative launched today by the governments of Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia and others, at the Fourth Financing for Development Conference in Seville. The coalition will push for increased investment in care, with the goal of reducing inequalities. Oxfam Mexico Executive Director Alexandra Haas said: 

“This initiative seeks to close the gap that for centuries has been disadvantaging women around the world. Women take on 76% of unpaid care work globally and are the most affected by cuts to public services. This unequal distribution of care is rooted in the gendered division of labor and in the colonial power imbalances between Global North and South, and in an economic structure that puts the interests of the super-rich at the expense of everyone else.  

“This agenda is not advancing at the speed we’d like, because it requires funding. But if governments don’t invest, care work will fall once more on the shoulders of women, particularly low-income and racialised women. It’s time for states to take on responsibility through the provision of high-quality, sufficient and well-funded public services.  

“We’re concerned about the role of the private sector in the provision of universal public services. Let’s be cautious. Progress will come from collaboration between governments, institutions and civil society. Services like healthcare are a human right and a public good, not a commodity. We hope the role of the private sector is through their paying their fair share of taxes, that can be used to fund and sustain public services.  

“Seville is just a starting point, not the destination. This initiative can pave a route for more global coalitions that put care and the fight against inequalities at the center, from the FFD to COP30 and G20.”