Argentina’s new pensions programme pays women for caregiving

A new government programme in Argentina aims to redress the gender wage retirement gap by boosting pension savings for women who worked as paid and unpaid caregivers.

For 60-year-old Maria Luisa Suarez, retirement is a dream she will never realise. It is not for lack of hard work. Since moving from the Argentine province of Santiago del Estero to the capital, Buenos Aires, at the age of 17, she’s found gainful employment at a bakery, run a general store and cleaned other people’s homes to help make ends meet. In between, she stayed home with her children when they were little, and juggled caring for them with extra shifts she picked up when her former husband lost his job.