Connecting Unpaid and Paid Care Work to Progress Gender Equality

Abstract

Globally, paid care work, such as care for children or the elderly is a fast-growing sector of the market economy. Yet, it remains undervalued by governments and citizens in both monetary and societal terms which has damaging implications for women’s economic empowerment and gender relations more broadly. In order to shape new political responses to the Sustainable Development Goal 5’s targets on unpaid care and domestic work, it is critical to make the connections between paid and unpaid care work and its impact on gender equality and women’s rights. Without reinforcing care work as ‘women’s work’, such responses should promote decent work for women and men in the care sector, invest in care workers, and acknowledge the global dimension of care work.