Based on a novel survey for Argentina, this paper provides evidence of the changes in time allocation within couples during the COVID-19 emergency. The survey was conducted online during the period of national lockdown in 2020 and collected information on hours allocated to paid work, housework, child care, educational childcare and leisure by both members of the couple before and during the lockdown, as well as socio-demographic characteristics. Our sample consists of 961 couples of which 785 have children. Our results indicate that during the lockdown, despite a reduction in time assigned to paid work and an increase in time spent in unpaid activities for both members of the couple, gender gaps regarding the latter increased. Specifically, while the load of men and women's work for pay became more equitable, women took up a larger proportion of the additional housework and childcare. We found that some factors mitigated (whether the man reduced his hours of work or whether both partners kept on doing so) while others potentiated (whether the woman reduced her hours of work, whether she continued working from home, or whether the couple outsourced housework before lockdown) the changes in the within-couple gender gaps in unpaid activities.

Durante la pandemia de COVID-19, 165 millones de estudiantes de América Latina y el Caribe se vieron abruptamente desconectados de la educación. A finales de 2021, las escuelas habían estado cerradas una media de 237 días, más que en cualquier otra parte del mundo. Aunque la pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado las vidas de mucha gente en todo el mundo, no lo ha hecho de manera uniforme. Tal vez uno de los legados más devastadores de la pandemia sea su efecto sobre los jóvenes. Durante uno de los periodos de desarrollo más críticos de la vida, un gran número de jóvenes se han visto privados de educación y expuestos a mayores niveles de inseguridad social, sanitaria, económica, violencia doméstica y abusos. A pesar de los esfuerzos de toda la comunidad educativa para garantizar que los estudiantes mantuvieran algún nivel de aprendizaje, las pruebas recogidas en este informe muestran que muchos escolares no participaron en actividades de aprendizaje significativas y que el parón en la acumulación de habilidades y capital humano tendrá consecuencias inmediatas y a largo plazo para el bienestar de los países. ¿Por qué? No fue sólo la pandemia. Fue el hecho de que la región y sus sistemas educativos no estaban bien preparados para soportar un choque de esta magnitud. Los efectos a corto y largo plazo de la crisis sanitaria no pueden entenderse si el relato no incluye las condiciones de partida. El objetivo de este informe es proporcionar a los responsables de la política educativa de toda la región una idea de la magnitud de los daños, sus consecuencias si no se toman medidas inmediatas, sustanciales y eficaces, y las prioridades de la política educativa teniendo en cuenta el punto de partida y los efectos de la pandemia. Y lo que es más importante, el informe también constituye una brújula para que el sector educativo desarrolle respuestas basadas en la evidencia dirigidas a las necesidades inmediatas de los jóvenes, así como las medidas a medio plazo que se necesitan para reconstruir nuestros sistemas educativos para que sean más resistentes, equitativos y eficientes a la hora de desarrollar estudiantes eficaces a lo largo de toda la vida. Si no hacemos nada, dejaremos atrás a toda una generación. Los gobiernos tienen que utilizar todas las palancas de las que dispongan para recuperarse, y la educación es clave en ese proceso.

Education spending has increased significantly in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last few decades and Jamaica is no exception. The country has prioritized education within its policy agenda, with spending consistently above the regions average for more than 10 years. Despite these efforts, closing existing learning gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students has remained a challenge. This study examines how resources are allocated to Jamaican schools and explores ways to promote equity through adjustments in education spending. Findings suggest that lower socio-economic schools rely mainly on public funds, while most high socio-economic schools income comes from donations from different sources, which can be used more flexibly. Such contributions are not always quantifiable or consistently described in the MOEYIs registries, which distorts the equitable allocation of public resources. Moreover, the funding formula used by the MOEYI is relatively new and no impact evaluation studies have been carried out to measure if it effectively responds to equitable education opportunities across schools. More information on schools access to and sources of resources would allow the MOEYI to determine more accurately whether the funds allocated to each school are sufficient to meet their real needs.

This document contributes to the understanding of the reasons behind gender gaps in education and how they translate into labor market outcomes and trajectories in the English-speaking Caribbean. What are the main characteristics of these gaps? Are they observed through the entire life cycle? Do they grow over time? What factors can explain them? A detailed analysis of updated educational and labor market data for five countries of the English-speaking Caribbean - The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago- complements previous studies by: (a) following the English-speaking Caribbean population from primary school to the labor market; (b) assessing the existence of gender gaps in education and in the labor market separately; and (c) analyzing the relationship between them and how one affects the other. The analysis confirms previously documented trends. Males tend to underachieve in terms of secondary and post-secondary studies when compared to females, as measured by enrollment, completion rates and learning outcomes. Our study analyses different factors that could be driving these gaps, such as gender roles, socialization processes for both girls and boys, classroom pedagogy in Caribbean schools, school curricula, and corporal punishment in households and schools. Despite females better results in education, their outcomes in the labor market are less favorable than those of males. Women show lower participation, and among labor market participants, they have higher unemployment rates and lower wages than men. For The Bahamas and Guyana, we document that wage gaps are primarily driven by non-observable characteristics unrelated to labor productivity. By contrast, in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, wage gaps seem to be mainly driven by labor market experience, occupational rank, and industrial sector. Reductions in gender-based sectoral and occupational segregation could significantly close the wage gaps observed in the latter countries. We recommend the continued collection of timely and accurate disaggregated data to inform policymaking and positively impact inclusive and sustainable development.

La literatura moderna sobre desarrollo humano señala que cuanto más temprano en la vida de las personas se invierte en aumentar y equiparar habilidades, mayores las probabilidades de desarrollo humano y movilidad social. El desarrollo temprano de las personas está enmarcado en su contexto social más cercano, es decir, en la familia. La familia es el primer ámbito del desarrollo humano y también de la desigualdad. Es fundamental estudiar a las familias para entender los mecanismos del desarrollo humano y de reproducción de la pobreza. Este documento da un paso en dicha dirección con énfasis en la conexión entre características y estructuras familiares y el desarrollo de niños y jóvenes. Se documenta que las familias están cambiando; que dicho cambio refuerza patrones divergentes de formación y duración de parejas y de fecundidad entre personas de alto y bajo nivel económico y educativo; y que dichas diferencias de contexto podrían ser un factor importante en el desarrollo de los niños y en la reproducción de las desigualdades sociales.