Mobilising care: an analysis of care and mobility policies in Bogotá and Belo Horizonte

In recent years, Bogotá, Colombia, and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, have introduced innovative care policies shaped by historical gender struggles. While innovative, these initiatives still privilege proximity to the home and overlook the interdependence between care and mobility. This article investigates how these policies address the multifaceted mobile dimensions of care related to the multiplicity of agents that participate in care practices, the understanding of roles and responsibilities of care, and the spaces and infrastructures involved. Framed by a social constructivist perspective, the study employs qualitative and quantitative content analysis to identify intersections between care and mobility across national and local policy documents. Findings reveal that policies in both cities emphasise the individualisation and feminisation of care within the family, assuming fixed geographies for carers and the cared-for. Significant differences emerge between national and local levels, with local policies more likely to incorporate territorial and mobility dimensions. These findings highlight the need to transform the power structures associated with the feminisation of care, rooted in patriarchal conceptions of family. For care policies to drive this change, they must challenge traditional understandings of care roles and integrate the multifaceted mobile dimensions of care.