The article compares the childcare regime in Chile and Uruguay by applying the institutional approach. We examine three political instruments on childcare: care services for children from 0 to 5 years old, domestic paid work, leaves and money to care. We use the comparative international case study method, by using different data sources. The outcomes show that both countries display a mixed pattern between familialism and des-familialism and diverse types of socioeconomic and gender equity according to the political instruments types analyzed.