With this new indicator, the Ministry of Economy seeks to make visible all the expenses of raising children and adolescents

By iProfessional

18/03/2023 – 12,22hs

A few days ago, the Ministry of Economy together with INDEC presented an unprecedented measure on the continent: the Parenting Index (CI). This is an innovative indicator that seeks to make visible the totality of resources involved in the maintenance of minors within the home, establishing a floor of minimum expenses where the hours of care will be included, in addition to the expenses that imply feeding, clothing, transporting and offering recreation to children and adolescents.

Likewise, with the Parenting Index -which would be adjusted according to inflation- a key tool is provided so that the Justice can respond to one of the great current problems: the non-compliance with the alimony quota and the lack of penalty.

In dialogue with Carolina Villanueva, co-founder and director of Grow -Género y Trabajo-, she analyzes the main scope of this new index and what urgent problems it tries to respond to.

“The Crianza index seeks to make visible everything that women do in the name of love and motherhood and that is not monetized: the time spent on care tasks. At the same time, it hopes to improve a more equal distribution of expenses between the caring parties, whether with couples who are living in the same household, or with couples who are separated”, introduces Villanueva.

With this new index, he says that “it is also expected that Justice will have an accurate indicator of comprehensive and current expenses of what the upbringing of one or more children implies and, above all, that it apply punitive measures for those who do not comply with the set fee.”

It has been shown that women are the ones who dedicate the greatest amount of time to care tasks. In data, I can say that per day, an Argentine woman dedicates 7 hours, 40 minutes to care tasks. Those hours, therefore, can no longer be dedicated to the productive market in order to generate income. Although many women work outside of those 7 hours, we do not have the same quality of work or the same possibility of job placement as our male peers,” the specialist told NA.

The Parenting Index marks the time dedicated to caring for sons and daughters

Lawsuits for non-payment of alimony

From the area of ​​Economy, Equality and Gender of the Ministry of Economy, it was said in a press conference on the day of presentation of the IC, that one of the main problems is the non-compliance with alimony payment. And in this sense there is a chained problem: ignorance about what to include and how to calculate the real value of a food quota by the Justice.

Within this framework, a 2021 Unicef ​​statistic carried out in conjunction with the Economy, Equality and Gender area of ​​the Ministry of Economy yielded alarming data: 50.2 percent of single-parent households throughout the country had not received the last 6 months the payment of maintenance expenses of the children. Meanwhile, 12 percent said that sometimes they received and sometimes not.

For her part, Sol Prieto, national director of the Economy, Equality and Gender area of ​​the Ministry of Economy, reaffirmed a few days ago that “One of the main problems that the judges have alleged up to now is not knowing the cost of raising a child.” For this reason, she highlighted that, with the new index, it will seek to establish “a reference value” so that the fixed amount of the food quota corresponds to the expenses and the use of time in foster care in a more accurate way..

The keys: how the IC is formed

The calculation methodology will include the basic goods and services necessary to provide food, clothing and education to children and adolescents in the home, in addition to the care tasks required by minors for their comprehensive development.

“The index represents the end of the illusion of evasion of those who go to a conciliation agreement in Justice and say that there are no tools to establish a criterion that guarantees food and education,” Sergio Massa assumed, at the presentation conference of the CI.

And in this sense, the Minister of Economy asked the Supreme Court of Justice that, “from the publication of the Parenting Index, take out an Agreement that establishes its application by the Family Justice as mandatory so that we assume the responsibility of giving certainty, the Justice assumes the responsibility of giving certainty, the parents comply with their obligations“.

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