Lost in Translation: The Social Investment Perspective and Gender Equality

Abstract

The social investment perspective is replacing standard neoliberalism in Latin America as well as Europe. With it come ideas about social citizenship that reconfigure the citizenship regimes of the three regions. The responsibility mix is equilibrated to give a greater role for the state, although as investor rather than spender; access to citizenship rights shifts to incorporate the excluded and marginalized; and governance practices alter to emphasize decentralization to the local and the community. The main idea of the social investment perspective is that the future must be assured by investing in children and ending the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. With this set of child-centered policy ideas, the equality claims of adult women and attention to their needs are sidelined in favor of those of children, including girls.