Care Work
Care work includes both unpaid and paid care and support of, among others, children, the elderly, long-term sick, people with disabilities, as well as housework and voluntary charitable work in a private context (e.g. families) as well as public care.
The unequal distribution of care work prevents gender equality
Care work is essential for the functioning of societies. By 2030, the number of people in need of care is expected to rise to 2.3 billion, with the addition of 100 million elderly people and 100 million children aged 6 to 14. x
At the same time, the unequal distribution of care work is a structural obstacle to gender equality, because unpaid care work reduces the time available for education, training and work. Paid care workers are also often precariously employed.
Dealing with the care work of women in all their diversity and marginalized people is therefore an important element of feminist development policy.
- Care Work- Working days per Year (Women)
- Care Work- Working days per Year (Men)
Workload for unpaid care work
Women do 76% of total unpaid care work, spending an average of 4 hours and 25 minutes a day, or 201 working days per year (compared to 1 hour and 23 minutes per day and 63 working days per year for men). x
Gender inequalities in care work
Unpaid Work
Women perform 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work every day. Valued at the minimum wage, this would contribute at least $10.8 trillion per year to the global economy, more than three times the size of the global tech industry. x Globally, women and girls, in all their diversity, spend an average of three times more time caring than men and boys. This imbalance is further exacerbated by crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, contributing to multiple burdens on women. This leads to gender discrimination, including lower educational attainment, lower employment and wages, and fewer opportunities to participate in social or political life. The recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work is an essential part of the 2030 Agenda and anchored in SDG 5 (gender equality). x
Paid Work
Worldwide, 70% of paid care work is done by women, but women occupy only 25% of management positions. x
Paid nursing professions are characterized by low pay, low status, poor working conditions and limited social protection. Most paid carers are migrant women who are part of the informal economy and work in poor conditions and at low wages, exacerbating social inequalities.
Gender-equitable and inclusive politics and business in the MENA region
The GIZ project "Gender-equitable and inclusive politics and business in the MENA region" (WoMENA, 2021 - 2025) organises exchange formats between actors from the public and private sectors as well as civil society on the topic of unpaid care work. In the first workshop, participants from six countries in the MENA region identified corresponding challenges, such as the lack of qualified professional caregivers, the lack of social security for single mothers or the legal possibility for fathers to take parental leave. In the second workshop, concrete initiatives to overcome these challenges were presented.
How can we contribute to more gender equality in care work?
In order to reduce gender inequalities in the field of care work, the International Labour Organization (ILO) proposes the "5Rs":
- Recognize: Recognizing unpaid care work, e.g. by promoting time budget surveys
- Reduce: reduce unpaid care work, e.g. by investing in care infrastructure and promoting social security for e.g. people with disabilities
- Redistribute: redistributing unpaid care work, e.g. by changing social norms through education and the media and promoting positive images of masculinity
- Reward: fairly remunerate paid care work, e.g. by promoting decent work for care professionals
- Represent: promote the representation of paid care workers, e.g. in collective bargaining
If sufficient investment is made in policies, the gender gap in employment could fall by 7.5 percentage points and even be closed in some countries. However, global investment would have to increase by an average of 2.5% for this to happen. x
A large collection of resources on more detailed recommendations for action can be found in the UN Women Toolkit "From 3Rs to 5Rs".
Footnotes
- Source: ILO (2018) Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work (opens in a new window)
- Source: ILO (2018) Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work (opens in a new window)
- Source: Oxfam International (2020) Time to care (opens in a new window)
- Source: UN (2015) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (opens in a new window)
- Source: Promundo & MenCare (2021) State of the World's Fathers 2021: Structural Solutions to Achieve Equality in Care Wor (opens in a new window)
- Source: ILO (2022) Costs and benefits of investing in transformative care policy packages. A macrosimulation study in 82 countries (opens in a new window)