This article aims to contribute to the development of a Latin American perspective of gender
and age and provides the knowledge acquired through the practice of care in old age in
Uruguay. A brief reflection on the social approach of Gender and Age is undertaken based on
recent empirical data, whose main source is the Time Use Survey, which reveals gender
inequalities in the provision of care by older people taking in consideration the participation
rates and time spent on these activities. There is discussion concerning the need to justify the
idea of active age as a basis for public policy. This requires taking into account the gender
division of labor during the course of whole life of men and women, and self-image
transformations that may or may not occur between men and women at this stage. It is
proposed to include a picture of older people as persons providing care and doing domestic
tasks that contribute to social and family welfare and not just as dependents requiring family
and public provision of care in their old age.