merike blofield | University of Miami (original) (raw)

Papers by merike blofield

Even before COVID-19 hit, one in three women experienced violence by a partner or sexual violence... more Even before COVID-19 hit, one in three women experienced violence by a partner or sexual violence
by a non-partner, according to the World Health Organization. With the pandemic, the risk of
violence against women and children, especially within the home, increased further as people
sheltered at home while facing great financial and emotional stress. Our assessment of government
policies in a cross-regional sample of countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and
Africa since the pandemic’s onset in early 2020 finds that

• governments increased communication and digital services addressing GBV, such as
hotlines, counselling, and reporting mechanisms, but struggled to meet increased demand for
emergency services;

• states with existing robust GBV services were better prepared to continue ser- vice
provision during the pandemic; beyond this, the gender ideology of the political leader
made a difference in prioritisation and visibility;

• in Latin America, national-level responses were heterogeneous, ranging from
dismissiveness by the presidents of Mexico and Brazil to new and proactive policies by
the government of Argentina; and

• in neither Uganda nor any of the countries studied in MENA were shelters clas- sified as
essential services. Even in South Africa, where shelters were classified as essential, lockdowns
complicated access.

Policy Implications
There is an urgent need for stronger policy responses to GBV, and not just for humanitarian
reasons. The United Nations has estimated the economic costs of violence against women at about 2
per cent of global GDP. Governments need to ensure that emergency GBV services exist beyond
hotlines and remain open and accessible around the clock. Non-governmental organisations play a
vital role in GBV service provision but should not substitute for government provision. German and
EU policies should encourage and support the development of GBV infrastructure, including
first-response services, shelters, and gender-sensitive
social protection programmes.

La pandemia del COVID-19 está generando en el mundo y en América Latina una triple crisis combina... more La pandemia del COVID-19 está generando en el mundo y en América Latina una triple crisis combinada y asimétrica: sanitaria, económica y social. Por otra parte, la región presenta debilidades estructurales que generan fuertes dificultades para abordar el triple desafío de contención epidemiológica, recuperación económica y mitigación de los costos sociales. Las debilidades económicas de larga data con amplios sectores de baja productividad y un modelo dual en el mercado laboral, la caída de la inversión y de la demanda agregada en la última etapa del ciclo económico en la región, los niveles de pobreza y desigualdad que las mejoras de la primera década del siglo no lograron revertir y las condiciones de habitabilidad y acceso a servicios básicos atentan contra la posibilidad de abordar adecuadamente este triple desafío. A pesar de ello los países han tomado acciones deliberadas para enfrentar estos tres desafíos. Sin embargo, las medidas han sido o bien insuficientes, fragmentadas o ineficaces en la mayoría de los casos. Se hace por ello necesario erigir un piso de protección social básico que facilite el cumplimiento de los tres objetivos estratégicos: sostener niveles de demanda económica mínimos, garantizar un ingreso básico o un piso de bienestar universal y, con ello, poder diseñar estrategias que permitan entrar y salir de las estrategias más o menos estrictas que se requieren para la contención epidemiológica sin condenar a una parte significativa de la población a la pobreza extrema a niveles de infraconsumo agudos.

Aside from the health challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented social crisis... more Aside from the health challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented social crisis to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). To avoid a humanitarian disaster, governments across the region have responded with a marked expansion of social protection measures. These, however, vary greatly with regard to speed, breadth, and sufficiency. • People cannot stay at home if they cannot feed their families. Governments recognised at varying speeds that income assistance measures are central to an effective epidemiological strategy. • Both the lockdown measures and the associated economic crises have highlighted the gaps in existing social protections in Latin America, as half of the re-gion's employed population works in the informal sector. Many of these workers lost their income virtually overnight. • To cover the needs of informal workers, the most effective governments established relatively inclusive eligibility criteria for cash assistance that allowed low-income households to self-identify and apply. The result is an extended registry that has expanded state capacity, on which further social protection policies can build. • The region's two largest economies, Mexico and Brazil, have both suffered high pandemic-related infection and mortality rates, but sharply differ in their social policy approach. The left-wing Mexican government stands out for not establishing any nationwide cash assistance programme in the wake of COVID-19. By contrast, Brazil underwent a massive, opposition-driven expansion of social protection coverage, which eventually boosted the right-wing government's approval ratings among the poor. Policy Implications This year's Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the World Food Programme on 9 Oc-tober recognizes the fundamental human need for sustenance. The social protection floors that were established ad hoc in the course of the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America need to now be extended to ensure that families can continue to feed themselves. The policy expansion efforts of the crisis could be used as an opportunity to overcome the deficiencies of Latin America's social security schemes and to build a more universal social protection floor for the longer term.

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

Latin American Research Review, 2009

... Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Alvarez, Sonia E., Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Esc... more ... Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Alvarez, Sonia E., Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Escobar, eds. ... Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Bunster, Ximena, and Elsa M. Chaney 1985 Sellers and Servants: Working Women in Lima, Peru. New York: Praeger. ...

Latin American Politics and Society, 2008

This article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the ... more This article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the successful ones often originated with the Executive National Women's Ministry (SERNAM), did not threaten existing definitions of gender roles, and did not require economic redistribution. These factors (plus the considerable influence of the Catholic Church) correlate in important ways, and tend to constrain political actors in ways not apparent from an examination of institutional roles or ideological identity alone. In particular, the Chilean left's strategic response to this complex web of interactions has enabled it to gain greater legislative influence on these issues over time.

Comparative Politics, 2008

... Sources (if not specified, research by author): legal grounds: Anika Rahman, Laura Katzive an... more ... Sources (if not specified, research by author): legal grounds: Anika Rahman, Laura Katzive and Stanley K. Henshaw,“Global Review of Laws on Induced Abortion, 1985-1997,” International Family Planning Perspectives (24:2, 1998), 56-Private sector cost of a safe abortion ...

CIPPEC, 2020

To sustain the epidemiological strategy of social distancing, social assistance must reach fast a... more To sustain the epidemiological strategy of social distancing, social assistance must reach fast and far in the Latin American social structure. With the immediate and still-to-come economic effects, close to half the population in the region is facing an impending humanitarian crisis.
While the population most vulnerable to COVID from a medical point of view are the elderly, socially a large part of the most vulnerable population are children and women (especially young families with children). In part A, we outline the reach of existing social protection systems in the region. Almost half of the economically active population gains its living in the informal sector, and much of this employment is concentrated in the sectors that are coming to a complete halt with the pandemic. In more than two-thirds of Latin American countries, more than two-thirds of children on average live in households without access to social security. Given this, the extension of non-contributory cash transfers to households with children in the last 15 years has become a life-line for low-income families, reaching about 20% of the population in the region by 2016. Moreover, almost all Latin American households have gained access to electricity, drinking water and cell phones over the last fifteen years and now depend on these services.
This existing infrastructure can now be mobilized to confront the social crisis, to put in place basic income guarantees and to ensure continued access to basic utilities. In part B, we outline the social assistance efforts of nine Latin American countries over the past two weeks, in response to COVID19. Governments are quickly moving to provide emergency assistance; however, the amount and coverage promises to date are not generous and broad enough.
In part C, we estimate the fiscal cost of guaranteeing each child and elderly person in a vulnerable household an income up to the poverty line for three months (an estimate of the duration of the COVID crisis), in eighteen Latin American countries. In the most developed countries, the effort represents less than 0.5% of GDP; only in two countries does it cost more than 2% of GDP. We urge governments to provide a broad emergency social protection floor.

Social Politics , 2017

This introduction assesses the effects of Latin America’s pink tide on gender equality in the reg... more This introduction assesses the effects of Latin America’s pink tide on gender equality in the region. We find that left governments and left competition provide an opportunity for advancing gender equality. However, the dominant pattern during Latin America’s pink tide was one of a reactive left. Pink tide governments typically did not have clearly articulated gender equality initiatives on their immediate policy agendas. Instead, left governments mostly reacted to pressures from domestic gender equality activists. In addition to left ideology and feminist mobilization, left party type and policy type explain progress and setbacks in gender equality across six outcome areas.

por sus lúcidos comentarios y por su inspiración intelectual Elisa P. Reis y sus trabajos.

Current Sociology, 2018

About 30% of households are intimately involved in paid domestic work in Latin America, either as... more About 30% of households are intimately involved in paid domestic work in Latin America, either as employers or as workers. Paid domestic workers overwhelmingly are female, from racial and ethnic minorities, and earn low wages. Labour codes have historically accorded them fewer rights and protections. Domestic workers have organized to demand equal rights, and recently, this organizing has begun to pay off. This article discusses the dynamics of paid domestic work through the themes of commodification and changes in government policies. Through a comparison of post-millennium Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Peru, the article compares the working conditions and struggles of domestic workers and highlights the factors that explain different outcomes in terms of labour rights and protections across these countries. It is argued that stronger rights and protections were made possible by the interactive effects of domestic workers organizing, more sympathetic left-wing governments, and the watershed ILO 2011 Convention on Domestic Workers.

Social Politics, 2017

We address the puzzle of left governments and abortion policy reform during Latin America's pink ... more We address the puzzle of left governments and abortion policy reform during Latin America's pink tide. Contrary to expectations, left government abortion reforms in this period have ranged from full legalization to supporting absolute prohibition. Confirming previous scholarship, we argue that abortion reform is influenced by public opinion, level of secularization, the strength of feminist mobilization visa `-vis conservative religious mobilization, and ideology of government. However, while left government is a necessary condition for abortion policy liberalization , it is not a sufficient one: type of left party is crucial. Institutionalized partisan lefts are more likely to liberalize than populist left governments.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

This paper provides a conceptual lens to address the complexity of policies involved in reconcili... more This paper provides a conceptual lens to address the complexity of policies involved in reconciling paid work and family responsibilities. Our typology classifies policies by how they intervene in the relation between paid work and family relations-by alternating paid and unpaid work, by transferring unpaid work outside the family or by formalizing home-based paid care-and by disaggregating implications for both social equity and gender relations (maternalism versus paternal or state co-responsibility) across policies. The paper makes a three-fold contribution. First, our typology looks at a set of policies rather than specific policies or overall policy regimes. Second, it helps disaggregate implications for gender and social equity. Third, it allows for comparative analysis of small and large numbers of cases across policy stages. Although we draw on Latin America, 1 our typology has broader application and is especially suited to examining countries with high-income inequality.

por sus lúcidos comentarios y por su inspiración intelectual Elisa P. Reis y sus trabajos.

Even before COVID-19 hit, one in three women experienced violence by a partner or sexual violence... more Even before COVID-19 hit, one in three women experienced violence by a partner or sexual violence
by a non-partner, according to the World Health Organization. With the pandemic, the risk of
violence against women and children, especially within the home, increased further as people
sheltered at home while facing great financial and emotional stress. Our assessment of government
policies in a cross-regional sample of countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and
Africa since the pandemic’s onset in early 2020 finds that

• governments increased communication and digital services addressing GBV, such as
hotlines, counselling, and reporting mechanisms, but struggled to meet increased demand for
emergency services;

• states with existing robust GBV services were better prepared to continue ser- vice
provision during the pandemic; beyond this, the gender ideology of the political leader
made a difference in prioritisation and visibility;

• in Latin America, national-level responses were heterogeneous, ranging from
dismissiveness by the presidents of Mexico and Brazil to new and proactive policies by
the government of Argentina; and

• in neither Uganda nor any of the countries studied in MENA were shelters clas- sified as
essential services. Even in South Africa, where shelters were classified as essential, lockdowns
complicated access.

Policy Implications
There is an urgent need for stronger policy responses to GBV, and not just for humanitarian
reasons. The United Nations has estimated the economic costs of violence against women at about 2
per cent of global GDP. Governments need to ensure that emergency GBV services exist beyond
hotlines and remain open and accessible around the clock. Non-governmental organisations play a
vital role in GBV service provision but should not substitute for government provision. German and
EU policies should encourage and support the development of GBV infrastructure, including
first-response services, shelters, and gender-sensitive
social protection programmes.

La pandemia del COVID-19 está generando en el mundo y en América Latina una triple crisis combina... more La pandemia del COVID-19 está generando en el mundo y en América Latina una triple crisis combinada y asimétrica: sanitaria, económica y social. Por otra parte, la región presenta debilidades estructurales que generan fuertes dificultades para abordar el triple desafío de contención epidemiológica, recuperación económica y mitigación de los costos sociales. Las debilidades económicas de larga data con amplios sectores de baja productividad y un modelo dual en el mercado laboral, la caída de la inversión y de la demanda agregada en la última etapa del ciclo económico en la región, los niveles de pobreza y desigualdad que las mejoras de la primera década del siglo no lograron revertir y las condiciones de habitabilidad y acceso a servicios básicos atentan contra la posibilidad de abordar adecuadamente este triple desafío. A pesar de ello los países han tomado acciones deliberadas para enfrentar estos tres desafíos. Sin embargo, las medidas han sido o bien insuficientes, fragmentadas o ineficaces en la mayoría de los casos. Se hace por ello necesario erigir un piso de protección social básico que facilite el cumplimiento de los tres objetivos estratégicos: sostener niveles de demanda económica mínimos, garantizar un ingreso básico o un piso de bienestar universal y, con ello, poder diseñar estrategias que permitan entrar y salir de las estrategias más o menos estrictas que se requieren para la contención epidemiológica sin condenar a una parte significativa de la población a la pobreza extrema a niveles de infraconsumo agudos.

Aside from the health challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented social crisis... more Aside from the health challenge, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented social crisis to Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). To avoid a humanitarian disaster, governments across the region have responded with a marked expansion of social protection measures. These, however, vary greatly with regard to speed, breadth, and sufficiency. • People cannot stay at home if they cannot feed their families. Governments recognised at varying speeds that income assistance measures are central to an effective epidemiological strategy. • Both the lockdown measures and the associated economic crises have highlighted the gaps in existing social protections in Latin America, as half of the re-gion's employed population works in the informal sector. Many of these workers lost their income virtually overnight. • To cover the needs of informal workers, the most effective governments established relatively inclusive eligibility criteria for cash assistance that allowed low-income households to self-identify and apply. The result is an extended registry that has expanded state capacity, on which further social protection policies can build. • The region's two largest economies, Mexico and Brazil, have both suffered high pandemic-related infection and mortality rates, but sharply differ in their social policy approach. The left-wing Mexican government stands out for not establishing any nationwide cash assistance programme in the wake of COVID-19. By contrast, Brazil underwent a massive, opposition-driven expansion of social protection coverage, which eventually boosted the right-wing government's approval ratings among the poor. Policy Implications This year's Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the World Food Programme on 9 Oc-tober recognizes the fundamental human need for sustenance. The social protection floors that were established ad hoc in the course of the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America need to now be extended to ensure that families can continue to feed themselves. The policy expansion efforts of the crisis could be used as an opportunity to overcome the deficiencies of Latin America's social security schemes and to build a more universal social protection floor for the longer term.

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

Latin American Research Review, 2009

... Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Alvarez, Sonia E., Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Esc... more ... Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Alvarez, Sonia E., Evelina Dagnino, and Arturo Escobar, eds. ... Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Bunster, Ximena, and Elsa M. Chaney 1985 Sellers and Servants: Working Women in Lima, Peru. New York: Praeger. ...

Latin American Politics and Society, 2008

This article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the ... more This article evaluates 38 bills seeking to expand women's rights in Chile and finds that the successful ones often originated with the Executive National Women's Ministry (SERNAM), did not threaten existing definitions of gender roles, and did not require economic redistribution. These factors (plus the considerable influence of the Catholic Church) correlate in important ways, and tend to constrain political actors in ways not apparent from an examination of institutional roles or ideological identity alone. In particular, the Chilean left's strategic response to this complex web of interactions has enabled it to gain greater legislative influence on these issues over time.

Comparative Politics, 2008

... Sources (if not specified, research by author): legal grounds: Anika Rahman, Laura Katzive an... more ... Sources (if not specified, research by author): legal grounds: Anika Rahman, Laura Katzive and Stanley K. Henshaw,“Global Review of Laws on Induced Abortion, 1985-1997,” International Family Planning Perspectives (24:2, 1998), 56-Private sector cost of a safe abortion ...

CIPPEC, 2020

To sustain the epidemiological strategy of social distancing, social assistance must reach fast a... more To sustain the epidemiological strategy of social distancing, social assistance must reach fast and far in the Latin American social structure. With the immediate and still-to-come economic effects, close to half the population in the region is facing an impending humanitarian crisis.
While the population most vulnerable to COVID from a medical point of view are the elderly, socially a large part of the most vulnerable population are children and women (especially young families with children). In part A, we outline the reach of existing social protection systems in the region. Almost half of the economically active population gains its living in the informal sector, and much of this employment is concentrated in the sectors that are coming to a complete halt with the pandemic. In more than two-thirds of Latin American countries, more than two-thirds of children on average live in households without access to social security. Given this, the extension of non-contributory cash transfers to households with children in the last 15 years has become a life-line for low-income families, reaching about 20% of the population in the region by 2016. Moreover, almost all Latin American households have gained access to electricity, drinking water and cell phones over the last fifteen years and now depend on these services.
This existing infrastructure can now be mobilized to confront the social crisis, to put in place basic income guarantees and to ensure continued access to basic utilities. In part B, we outline the social assistance efforts of nine Latin American countries over the past two weeks, in response to COVID19. Governments are quickly moving to provide emergency assistance; however, the amount and coverage promises to date are not generous and broad enough.
In part C, we estimate the fiscal cost of guaranteeing each child and elderly person in a vulnerable household an income up to the poverty line for three months (an estimate of the duration of the COVID crisis), in eighteen Latin American countries. In the most developed countries, the effort represents less than 0.5% of GDP; only in two countries does it cost more than 2% of GDP. We urge governments to provide a broad emergency social protection floor.

Social Politics , 2017

This introduction assesses the effects of Latin America’s pink tide on gender equality in the reg... more This introduction assesses the effects of Latin America’s pink tide on gender equality in the region. We find that left governments and left competition provide an opportunity for advancing gender equality. However, the dominant pattern during Latin America’s pink tide was one of a reactive left. Pink tide governments typically did not have clearly articulated gender equality initiatives on their immediate policy agendas. Instead, left governments mostly reacted to pressures from domestic gender equality activists. In addition to left ideology and feminist mobilization, left party type and policy type explain progress and setbacks in gender equality across six outcome areas.

por sus lúcidos comentarios y por su inspiración intelectual Elisa P. Reis y sus trabajos.

Current Sociology, 2018

About 30% of households are intimately involved in paid domestic work in Latin America, either as... more About 30% of households are intimately involved in paid domestic work in Latin America, either as employers or as workers. Paid domestic workers overwhelmingly are female, from racial and ethnic minorities, and earn low wages. Labour codes have historically accorded them fewer rights and protections. Domestic workers have organized to demand equal rights, and recently, this organizing has begun to pay off. This article discusses the dynamics of paid domestic work through the themes of commodification and changes in government policies. Through a comparison of post-millennium Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico and Peru, the article compares the working conditions and struggles of domestic workers and highlights the factors that explain different outcomes in terms of labour rights and protections across these countries. It is argued that stronger rights and protections were made possible by the interactive effects of domestic workers organizing, more sympathetic left-wing governments, and the watershed ILO 2011 Convention on Domestic Workers.

Social Politics, 2017

We address the puzzle of left governments and abortion policy reform during Latin America's pink ... more We address the puzzle of left governments and abortion policy reform during Latin America's pink tide. Contrary to expectations, left government abortion reforms in this period have ranged from full legalization to supporting absolute prohibition. Confirming previous scholarship, we argue that abortion reform is influenced by public opinion, level of secularization, the strength of feminist mobilization visa `-vis conservative religious mobilization, and ideology of government. However, while left government is a necessary condition for abortion policy liberalization , it is not a sufficient one: type of left party is crucial. Institutionalized partisan lefts are more likely to liberalize than populist left governments.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

This paper provides a conceptual lens to address the complexity of policies involved in reconcili... more This paper provides a conceptual lens to address the complexity of policies involved in reconciling paid work and family responsibilities. Our typology classifies policies by how they intervene in the relation between paid work and family relations-by alternating paid and unpaid work, by transferring unpaid work outside the family or by formalizing home-based paid care-and by disaggregating implications for both social equity and gender relations (maternalism versus paternal or state co-responsibility) across policies. The paper makes a three-fold contribution. First, our typology looks at a set of policies rather than specific policies or overall policy regimes. Second, it helps disaggregate implications for gender and social equity. Third, it allows for comparative analysis of small and large numbers of cases across policy stages. Although we draw on Latin America, 1 our typology has broader application and is especially suited to examining countries with high-income inequality.

por sus lúcidos comentarios y por su inspiración intelectual Elisa P. Reis y sus trabajos.