Summary_Strategies for Women to cope with Unpaid Care

Annotation Summary for  “Strategies for Women to cope with Unpaid Care”

The Articles(Background)

The articles explored strategies for Women to cope with unpaid care,  it is generally accepted that the prevalence of unpaid care work and other forms of unpaid work is a joint responsibility of households and families (men and women), markets, the state, and the nonprofit sector. However, girls and women bear a disproportionate share of the burden of unpaid or inadequately compensated care work, particularly in low income countries. Women consequently have less time for paid work, networking, activities that promote societal change, or even just to rest. The article proposes recommendations to lift the constraints on women’s time by both reducing the burden of unpaid care work borne by women as well as redistributing the caring responsibilities between women and men. 

  Main Findings

1. Women with higher education are likely to see a decrease in routine housework, due to increasing income and opportunities to substitute these responsibilities with market services
2. Economic growth is associated with a reduction in unpaid care work for women, in particular a reduction in the physical and time-intensive tasks of unpaid care work (such as collecting water or fuel), leaving women with more time for paid work and study as well as leisure and personal care.
3. Children’s time allocation does, in fact, respond to a variety of influences, each of which has a different impact on their present and future lives.  
4. Technological progress, globalisation, and rural transformation generate opportunities for economic growth, poverty reduction, employment, and food security is used as a strategies to empower women
5. Strengthening women’s economic opportunities and ability to make decisions in groups or organisations is a major focus of many initiatives to support women’s empowerment. 

Conclusion

Unpaid care is a universal problem that affects women all over the world, regardless of their income, education, or country’s level of development. While some nations have made progress in recognizing, minimising, and redistributing unpaid caregiving, the majority of the burden still falls on women. Gender disparities in unpaid care work start early and get worse as women approach marriage and childbirth. Raised educational aspirations have led to an important shift in norms around intergenerational mutuality and education is increasingly being linked to children’s familial obligations, in contrast to the past when children’s primary responsibility to their families was expressed through their work contribution. This is largely because education is seen as being crucial to both individual and family social mobility. 

Recommendation

1. Policy and programme should  promote women’s economic empowerment by recognising, reducing and redistributing women’s unpaid care work.
2. Lessen unpaid care work through investments in high-quality infrastructure that can support the most difficult tasks women are responsible for
3. Strengthening legal rights on the types of economic opportunities pursued by women to expand women’s access to marital property.
4. Strengthen sustainable livelihoods by encouraging an environment that recognizes and values rural women’s productive activities and upholds and fulfils their rights to decent work
5. Household Methodologies (HHMs) are creative, participatory approaches stated in the paper to promote equitable intra-household relations, fair division of labour, and shared decision-making processes.