Women still carry burden of unpaid care work

London - In an era of unprecedented global wealth, millions of women are still consigned to work in low paid, poor quality jobs.

This is according to a major report from UN Women, released on Monday, and which calls for far-reaching changes to the global policy agenda to transform economies and make women’s rights, and equality a reality.

The report comes 20 years after the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, which set out an ambitious agenda to advance gender equality.  

"Since the Beijing Conference, significant advances have been made by many societies, particularly in advancing women’s legal rights," UN Women said in a statement.

Globally, only half of women participate in the labour force, compared to three quarters of men.

In developing regions, up to 95% of women’s employment is informal, in jobs that are unprotected by labour laws and lack social protection.

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UN Women pointed out that women still carry the burden of unpaid care work, which austerity policies and cutbacks have only intensified. To build fairer, more sustainable economies which work for women and men, a future comprising more of the same will no longer do.

“Our public resources are not flowing in the directions where they are most needed: for example, to provide safe water and sanitation, quality health care, and decent child- and elderly-care services. Where there are no public services, the deficit is borne by women and girls,” said UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

“This is a care penalty that unfairly punishes women for stepping in when the State does not provide resources and it affects billions of women the world over. We need policies that make it possible for both women and men to care for their loved ones without having to forego their own economic security and independence,” she added.

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The report reveals that globally, on average, women are paid 24% less than men. The gaps for women with children are even wider. Lower rates of labour force participation, gender pay gaps and lower access to pensions add to a huge care penalty for women.

Women are clustered into a limited set of under-valued occupations. For example, 83% of domestic workers worldwide are women and almost half of them are not entitled to the minimum wage.

Women are still under-represented in economic leadership positions, from trade unions to corporate boards, from finance ministries to international financial institutions. Women’s membership in trade unions is growing in some countries, but they rarely reach top leadership positions.

“The new economic agenda that UN Women is advocating for is not a pipe dream. Many countries, including low-income developing countries, are already implementing elements of this agenda,” said Shahra Razavi, chief of UN Women’s research and data section and lead author of the report. “The kind of change we need is far-reaching, but it can be done.”

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