This blog is the fifth in a series exploring the five demands of the 2025 Global Days of Action on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights.
By: Klelia Guerrero, Latindadd/RJFLAC
As part of the 2025 Global Days of Action on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights campaign we are coming together to reflect on how to build tax and fiscal systems that guarantee gender equality and invest in gender-transformative public services which respond to the needs of women, girls and marginalized communities. From Latindadd, as the host of la Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe (RJFALC), we are reflecting on the need for demand five: “Ensure gender equality in tax systems and public services.”
We must correct the inequalities resulting from the current social organization of care. Moving beyond economic arguments, we must strategically claim care as a human right and a public good.
The gender gap in care work
In Latin America, the unequal distribution of care work is an undeniable reality. Women disproportionately take on household chores and caring for family members, dedicating countless hours a day to tasks that are rarely recognized nor paid. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), women in Latin America spend twice as many hours doing unpaid care activities compared to men, impacting the ability of women to work and have access to opportunities.
Moreover, people who work in the paid care sector often face precarious working conditions, low wages and lack of social security, facing overlapping vulnerabilities in a sector occupied by predominantly women. Migration – and even more so in the case of irregular migration – also poses additional vulnerabilities that States must counteract to guarantee the protection of women’s rights.
The economic value of care work
Care is the backbone of our societies. UN Women estimates that unpaid care work contributes significantly to productive and reproductive systems. This silent investment sustains the economy and enables development; contributing to the well-being of families and communities, strengthening social cohesion and reducing dependence on state services in times of crisis.
Recognizing and making visible this contribution is an essential step to demand public policies that ensure equitable redistribution of the burdens and opportunities of care work.
Tax reforms for gender equality
Tax systems must support social justice. Reviewing tax exemptions, implementing progressive taxation, and financing essential public services are all tools to restructure the social organization of care and fairly distribute opportunities.
Greater and fairer tax collection, which eliminates tax evasion and avoidance, enables investment in public services to create universal, accessible, and affordable care networks, improving the quality of life of women, girls, and all, and offers alternatives to economic insecurity and vulnerability.
A call to action
Transforming our tax systems is essential to achieve a future where gender equality is a reality. The GDOA 2025 campaign invites us to raise our voices and demand tax reforms that invest in social care and well-being.
As Latindadd and RJFALC, we reaffirm our fight for tax and gender justice. We demand real and transformative change that ensures equitable and just tax systems, and that guarantees that every woman and girl has the opportunity to escape poverty and reach their full potential.
Gender equality in tax systems and public services is more than a tax demand: it is a question of human rights and social justice.
