There is a strong link between the amount of time that women and girls spend on unpaid care work and their economic empowerment. This link becomes stronger because of two reinforcing dynamics:
- Women face discrimination in the labour market
- The drudgery that is often involved in carrying out domestic responsibilities impacts on the health and wellbeing of women, further compromising their ability to participate in civil, economic, social and political spheres.
Policy findings on paid work
A broader understanding of economic empowerment encompasses both the market economy and also the care economy that sustains it.
- An explicit link between the right to decent work and unpaid care must be recognised in policy.
- Women unable to engage in decent work due to the unequal burden of care are having their rights impeded. The inability to develop an autonomous livelihood relates to the violation of the right to work under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- The idea of decent work does not refer just to the quality of the job, but should have four elements: job creation, rights at work, social protection, and social dialogue.
- There should be infrastructure and regulation of the private sector in place to ensure the provision of parental leave, sick leave, and worksite creches.
We have developed a policy briefing: Balancing Paid Work and Unpaid Care Work to Achieve Women's Economic Empowerment. The briefing looks at the interactions between the market and the household and the consequences of unpaid care work on the type, location and nature of paid work that women and girls can undertake, thereby impacting their economic empowerment. Further, it outlines policy actions that can help prevent women from being forced into making choices that have negative social, economic and political outcomes.
