If women’s unpaid work were assigned a monetary value, it would exceed . Globally, women and girls spend more than as many hours a day on unpaid care work than men. This disparity prevents women and girls from fully realizing their rights and opportunities, throughout their lives. Women and girls remain the default providers of poorly paid and unpaid care work everywhere, and the most marginalized women – those who live in poverty, migrant women, women in informal work, and women from minority groups – shoulder the largest share of unpaid care work. An estimated of paid domestic workers worldwide are women.
The world needs to confront the serious disconnect between what is essential for societies and economies to thrive, what is counted, and what is prioritized in budgets and policies. This is a fundamental human rights issue, and one of the biggest drivers of gender inequality and poverty.
When we invest in comprehensive care systems, we are investing in women, communities, societies and economies. This can simultaneously reduce women’s time and income poverty, enhance their labour market participation and increase the number of decent care jobs, potentially creating almost .
Today, in the second time that the world commemorates the International Day of Care and Support, we celebrate efforts being made across the world, from Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Panama recently passing laws establishing ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Care Systems, to Kenya using the data of its first national Time Use Survey to inform the development of its national care policy. We welcome the Philippines’ Caregivers Welfare Act that upholds the rights of caregivers; Spain’s approval of a strategy for a new model of long-term care in the community; and Canada’s work with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners to provide a high-quality, affordable, flexible, and inclusive early learning and child care system, with new investments totalling up to $30 billion over five years.
Today, we call for bold actions that transform care systems. We rally behind the Human Rights Council’s call for the and the Economic and Social Council’s emphasis on .
Engaging through multi-partner and multistakeholder platforms such as the or the we can support innovation, experience sharing and achieve greater impact.
As we approach the , with its resounding recognition that equal is greater, let us all commit to action to transform care systems. Let us commit to the end of undervalued and gendered division of care work and instead build thriving, equitable and sustainable economies and societies for today and tomorrow.
