By Hidaya Muhiden
Unpaid care work encompasses direct care of individuals and the domestic labour that facilitates it, and is vital for development, as it accounts for the majority of work hours for rural families, particularly poor women and girls. Unpaid caregiving is crucial for individual and societal well-being, but the disproportionate share completed by women has negative impacts on their health and well-being, mobility, and perpetuates their unequal status.
Women play a significant, yet undervalued role in the local economy and economic development, but face numerous barriers to realising their full potential. In Ethiopia, women often struggle to balance their work and family responsibilities due to cultural norms that place a disproportionate burden on them to care for their families and manage household duties, even with the help of hired caregivers. This blog discusses some solutions for recognising the intricate relationship between unpaid care and market dynamics and that cater to the specific needs and challenges faced by caregivers.
Introduction
Unpaid caregiving is a crucial aspect of individual and societal well-being, as it contributes to the overall functioning of society (Beyeler, 2023). Women play a significant, yet undervalued role in the local economy and economic development, but they face numerous and overlapping barriers to realising their full potential, including access to education, information, and decision-making power. While certain caregiving tasks may be more enjoyable than others, such as spending quality time with children or preparing meals, they all contribute to a functioning and healthy society (Beyeler, 2023).
The problem
The low participation rates of women in the labour force can be attributed to their frequent responsibility for the majority of unpaid caregiving tasks. Unpaid care accounts for the majority of work hours for rural families, particularly poor women and girls. One study reported that women’s care work as their primary activity averaged 4-7 hours per day (Ferrant and Thim, 2019). A truly transformative approach to care extends beyond mere improvements in care provision and policy. It necessitates a fundamental shift in how care responsibilities are allocated, acknowledging, reducing, and redistributing them. While this will have profound economic, social, and political implications, knowing what works and where to start can form part of the problem.
Market system solutions
Market systems programs aim to stimulate change to enhance financial rewards and accessibility for marginalised communities, identify underlying causes, implement interventions to leverage incentives and capabilities and apply systems thinking to guide implementation. In Ethiopia, well-planned systemic care programs have shown promise in alleviating the burden of unpaid care work. By enhancing value chains and productivity, these initiatives have made significant strides in diminishing the caregiving responsibilities placed on individuals.
Applying market systems approaches offers a robust foundation for comprehending unpaid care work as a component of the broader market system. By documenting it in a gendered market analysis and identifying its impact on women’s ability to acquire productive resources, this approach helps to address systemic constraints that hinder ‘pro-poor growth opportunities’ and strengthen women’s participation in public fora. This approach, as outlined by Rost et al. (2015), provides a strong basis for understanding care work as an integral aspect of the market system.
Recognising the intricate relationship between unpaid care and market dynamics is essential for formulating effective care policies that cater to the specific needs and challenges faced by caregivers. ‘Care policies’ encompass a range of strategies that provide resources to caregivers, either financially or through care services, to alleviate their workload and transfer responsibilities. These policies can take various forms, such as direct payments to caregivers or those needing care, establishing care services, and introducing new labour regulations, like maternity and paternity leave. Policies that recognise and support unpaid care work can have a positive impact on market functioning and social outcomes related to care.
Another potential strategy to improve care relationships and challenge gendered norms of care work is to provide education and training that supports women’s economic empowerment and redistributes unpaid care work. Additionally, positive changes in social and cultural norms, such as providing education and training by government and religious authorities, have been shown to reduce unpaid care work.
In addition, providing access to modern contraception and raising awareness of sexual and reproductive health can pave the way for women’s economic empowerment. This could potentially be achieved through the implementation of interventions that help markets deliver certain services or products, such as healthcare or fuel-efficient stoves. Market systems programs increasingly recognise the critical role that women play in economic activity and are incorporating women’s economic empowerment and gender equality objectives, including addressing the issue of unpaid care work.
Conclusion
Care should not be regarded as a burden solely for women but should be more equitably shared within families and the state. The failure of states to provide, regulate, and finance formal domestic and care services exacerbates this burden, particularly for women. The impact of unpaid care on market functioning and the ability of low-income families to benefit from them is significant. Policies that fail to take this connection into account risk having negative consequences on market activities and broader social outcomes.
Unpaid care work inequalities and gender gaps in labour force participation are interconnected. Women’s disproportionate responsibility for this work imposes constraints on their time and limits their opportunities. Reducing the disparity in care responsibilities between men and women can lead to an increase in women’s labour force participation. Suggestions to improve the lives of women entrepreneurs include providing support to address the challenges they face in balancing work and personal responsibilities, education and training, providing access to modern contraception, as well as implementing community-level strategies to change attitudes toward unpaid care work. It is also recommended to recognise unpaid care work as legitimate work and production and to develop interventions to reduce the burden of such work.
Reference
Beyeler, L. (2023) Why you should care about unpaid care work. Available at: https://oecd-development-matters.org/2019/03/18/why-you-should-care-about-unpaid-care-work/ (Accessed: 08 August 2023).
Ferrant, G., & Thim, A. (2019). Measuring women’s economic empowerment: Time uses data and gender inequality. OECD Development Policy Papers, 16.
Rost, L., Bates, K. and Dellepiane, L.(2015) ‘Women’s economic empowerment and care: evidence for influencing’, WE-Care Baseline Research Report, Oxford: Oxfam
Acknowledgment
This blog is a series to reflect on our learnings from a project under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) – East Africa Initiative. GrOW is jointly funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. In collaboration with our partners – WISE for capacity strengthening of key policy actors and Addis PowerHouse for running advocacy efforts – we will enhance women’s economic empowerment (WEE), reduce, recognise and redistribute unpaid care in Ethiopia and strengthen the in-country coalition of key WEE champions.