Bogota Care Blocks - How a city is reorganizing itself for women and achieving the SDGs

Basic Data
Population size: 7,834,167
Population Growth Rate(%): 1.24
Surface Area (sq.km): 1776
Population Density (people/sq.km): 21276
GDP Per Capita (U.S.$): 8844
GINI Index: 0.53
Main Source of Prosperity: Services

It has long been recognized that women’s “time poverty” is a structural cause of gender inequality. The unpaid burden of care falls disproportionately on women, which translates into women lacking economic autonomy. Women who are primary caregivers also tend to abandon higher education. They are prone to suffer from chronic mental and physical illnesses and have higher chances of experiencing gender-based violence. 30% of Bogotá’s female population does unpaid caregiving full-time; 91% of this population is low-income; and 33% is deprived of free time for self-care. 

In 2020, the city of Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, launched its Care System to recognize, reduce and redistribute care. This initiative operates mainly through Care Blocks with an “ease-of-access” modality that provides educational, leisure and income-generation services to caregivers, while simultaneously offering professional assistance to those being taken care of – children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. 

The initiative also includes a cultural change strategy, a “Care School for Men”, so that men can learn to recognize care, and distribute care more equitably within the household. As a result of this initiative, which provides childcare and a laundry service, caregivers have gained a total of 4 hours daily to study, generate income, or rest.