Bretton Woods’ Pandemic Policies: A Gender Equality Analysis—Perspectives from Latin America

Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky () and Mariana Rulli
Additional contact information
Mariana Rulli: Universidad Nacional de Río Negro

Development, 2021, vol. 64, issue 1, 97-106

Abstract: Abstract Using a human rights and feminist economist perspective, this article analyzes the emergency financial policies deployed by international financial institutions (IFIs)—in particular the IMF and the World Bank—to help countries in Latin America cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Looking at the macroeconomic and fiscal assumptions behind IMF loans to countries, it identifies clear signals that fiscal discipline and pro-market options will continue to be priorities as soon as the emergency has been overcome. The study explains how recent adjustment and austerity policies adopted by a number of countries have disproportionately affected women’s human rights, reinforcing the invisibilization of gender inequalities in domestic and care work and in turn, making women even more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic and resulting economic recession. It concludes that in order to properly consider the conditions of IFI loans, countries must evaluate the probable impact of these financial contracts on people’s human rights, and in particular on gender equality.

Keywords: International financial institutions; Covid-19; Women; Austerity; Adjustment; Human rights; Gender inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41301-021-00290-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:develp:v:64:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41301-021-00290-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... es/journal/41301/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41301-021-00290-4

Access Statistics for this article

Development is currently edited by Stefano Prato

More articles in Development from Palgrave Macmillan, Society for International Deveopment Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().