Building the Purple Economy in Latin America
Care is foundational to economic activity, yet care work remains unevenly recognised, measured, financed, and governed across Latin America. This policy brief examines the emerging care-policy architecture in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic, asking whether recent advances in legislation and institutional design are translating into durable implementation and reductions in gendered care inequalities. Drawing on the Purple Economy concept developed by İpek İlkkaracan, and applying it to a comparative policy diagnostic, the study uses a sequential mixed-methods approach combining primary interviews, quantitative analysis based on the 5Rs framework, panel regression, and institutional mapping.
The analysis identifies persistent gaps between normative commitments and implementation. Across the four countries, women continue to bear substantially greater unpaid care responsibilities, with associated consequences for labour-market participation, earnings, and social protection. The study also finds significant variation in institutional durability, fiscal commitment, measurement capacity, and public investment, while time-saving care infrastructure remains particularly underdeveloped. Country evidence further shows that care policies are vulnerable where implementation depends on executive action, fragmented institutional mandates, or non-binding financing arrangements.
The brief argues that consolidating a Purple Economy requires more than expanding legal recognition: it requires durable governance structures, robust data systems, sustained public investment, physical care infrastructure, and mechanisms that preserve gender equality as a core policy objective. The findings provide a comparative basis for governments, regional institutions, and civil society to strengthen the implementation and institutional resilience of care policy across the region.