This Monday, November 25, feminisms mobilized and carried out activities around the world for the International Day to Fight Violence against Women. In Argentina, in addition to the cuts that the government projects for next year, many items are being cut and underexecuted in 2024 shortly after the end of the year.
An analysis by the Center for Argentine Political Economy (CEPA) on the 2024 budget execution and the 2025 budget project presented by Milei, states that only 5 of the 20 most important programs selected with a Gender Perspective (PPG) register real growth in comparison with the budget executed in 2023, 2 of them being the AUH and the 1,000 days program.
Meanwhile, 8 of the 20 selected programs present a deepening of the adjustment already carried out in 2024 -among which is the pension moratorium, whose elimination has already been confirmed by the head of ANSES for March 2025-; and 6 programs eliminated or without items that specify their budget: that is, “in the best of cases it is a problem of transparency, in the worst, the failure by the State of the duty to assist and protect women victims of violence” they say from CEPA. This group without allocation of items includes the Lucio Law, Line 144 and the ESI.
Elimination of the pension moratorium
In the budget commission, the head of ANSES confirmed the non-renewal of the pension moratorium, which expires in March 2025. According to CEPA, as of June 2024, only 9.5% of women of retirement age have 25 years or more of contributions. That is, in practice, it means that 9 out of 10 women will only be able to access the PUAM, constituting not only a loss of income (20% less than the minimum) and rights (non-pensionable due to widowhood), but also a an increase in the de facto retirement age (the PUAM is intended for people aged 65 or older, while the retirement age for women is 60 years and older).
So far, with the last moratorium, 460,000 people have retired (8 out of every 10 new retirees), who are mostly women. This is due to the very high labor informality that affects almost 4 out of every 10 salaried workers (mostly women), and unpaid work.
In this sense, there were also cuts in labor gap programs. The Registradas program, which provides incentives for the formalization of employment in private homes, expired in December 2023 and the national government decided not to renew it. This is a highly feminized sector that, according to data from the Argentine Integrated Pension System (SIPA), has accumulated a loss of 13,004 positions as of August 2024 since Javier Milei took office. The same fate befell the Enhance Young Inclusion program, which is discontinued.
Regarding Enhance Work, the drop responds, on the one hand, to the withdrawals made and, on the other, to the liquefaction of its amount. When the new government took office, the benefit corresponded to 50% of the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage. However, it was decided to unhook it and freeze it at $78,000. Thus, 62.8% of its purchasing power has been lost. To return to the purchasing capacity level of November 2023, the Enhance Work (today “Return to Work” or “Social Accompaniment”) should be $209,443 in December 2024, CEPA states.
The denial of sexist violence
According to the National Ombudsman’s Office, there were 147 femicides in the first half of 2024. Despite this brutal reality, Milei is a denier of gender violence and applies it by defunding and eliminating the few prevention and containment policies.
According to data from the Integrated System for Gender-Based Violence Cases (SICVG), 95.7% of the people assisted in 2023 declared that they did not have sufficient income to cover their expenses. A very precarious patch by the State in the face of this reality is the Acompañar program, which provides a subsidy for six months equivalent to a Minimum Living and Mobile Wage. Since the SMVM was so low ($271 thousand), it often forced women to have to continue living with their attacker.
So far in 2024, it has registered an 86% drop in its execution. This is due, on the one hand, to the liquefaction of its reference value, that is, the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage, which lost 25.7% of its purchasing capacity between November 2023 and October 2024. On the other hand , the number of registrations to the program was substantially reduced: according to the latest available data, in the first quarter of 2024 the registrations granted were reduced by 98.6% in relation to the same period of 2023. While between January and March 2023, the benefit had been provided to 34,229 women and diversities, in the same period of 2024, 471 were granted, CEPA states. In turn, in August 2024, the program was modified through Decree 755/2024. The collection months were reduced from 6 to 3, and a new requirement was included to have made a judicial or police complaint, resulting in it being extremely expulsive and violating the evidence built on gender violence.
Cuts in health and care
Finally, the CEPA report warns about cuts in health and care gaps. Programs such as Strengthening Comprehensive Sexual Education (ESI) directly disappear from their budget for 2025; the 1000 days Program with only 18% execution shortly before the end of the year; the Response to HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases with a 73.5% real drop for the period January – October 2024; and the Development of Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation with a 77.1% real cut for the same period.
In relation to care, the CEPA identifies strong cuts in the construction of infrastructure: 99.6% real cut in “Social, Care and Health Infrastructure”; and 85.8% real year-on-year cut in “Building strengthening of kindergartens” for the period Jan-Oct 2024.
According to the Survey on Unpaid Work and Time Use (INDEC, 2021), women who perform unpaid domestic and care tasks dedicate an average of 6.3 hours a day, while men who perform them dedicate an average of 3.4 hours a day.
No money?
The method of liquefying budget items by not updating them for inflation was permanent in the government, as seen with the veto of retirees and funds for public universities. An adjustment plan tailored to the IMF and debt payments, as Milei promises for next year.
These adjustment numbers that we mention are correlated with shortages of hormones and condoms, forced changes in treatments for people living with HIV, and preventing access to minimal financial aid for victims of gender violence. A reality that is complemented by state dismissals including trans people who entered due to quota, dismissals at Posadas, having stepped on retirements, the attempted closure of the Bonaparte Hospital, or the attack on the salaries of university and Garrahan workers.
However, the 2025 budget presented by Milei claims to pay for debt fraud, under the slogan of the “fiscal rule,” cutting all types of programs to guarantee payment to speculators. If the 2025 Budget project is approved as presented or the 2023 Budget is extended again with discretionary use for the Government, the adjustment will continue.
The emergence of the student movement throughout the country with tens of thousands participating in takeovers and assemblies, and the struggles of health workers show that there is a will to confront this Milei plan that attacks the great majorities, despite the role of union and student center managements. It becomes more necessary to unite all these struggles from below, in the debates in each assembly, in each workplace, schools and universities, to coordinate and strike together.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
