Resources on Care Economy

  1. © Chevanon photography/Pexels 2024

    Podcast series: Global challenges – Global solutions

    Tackling gender segregation: How a new policy tool can finally help bring about change

    06 March 2024

    In the world of work, men and women are often segregated by their type of work, one main reason that women suffered more job losses during the COVID-19 crisis than men. Now, a joint program of UN Women and the ILO has developed a new tool to help policymakers rethink the design of sectoral policies and make informed decisions on where to invest to have a greater impact on gender equality.

  2. UN Women - ILO Policy Tool

    Gendered employment analysis and policy recommendations in Ethiopia

    09 February 2024

    Evidence from Hawassa and Yirgalem Intergrated Industrial Parks

  3. © ILO 2024

    Care economy

    Childcare allows an informal, working mother to care and support her family

    20 November 2023

    This is the life journey of Siti Riyanti, a working mother of two who has been able to support her family and take care of her sons with the support of a quality, affordable childcare service.

  4. © ILO 2024

    Care economy

    A company-based childcare service improves workers’ loyalty and productivity

    09 November 2023

    The ILO, together with its social partners, conducts a visit to Tunas Cinta childcare service in Mojokerto District in East Java to learn about challenges and opportunities in providing a greater access to childcare for Indonesian workers nationwide.

  5. Publication

    Care Work in China: Who does care work, what is its economic value and how has it been affected by Covid-19?

    09 November 2023

    UN Women and ILO worked together to produce this report to better understand care work and the economy of care in China, where policy recommendations are put forward to strengthen the societal reorganization of care to help shape a more equal and inclusive society.

  6. ILOSTAT

    Why measuring unpaid domestic and care work matters

    27 October 2023

    Every day, more than 16 billion hours are devoted to unpaid domestic and care work around the world. As global populations age, these figures are set to rise, and quantifying unpaid domestic and care work is critical to understanding labour under-utilisation, employment trends, and gender-based inequalities.

  7. © Russell Watkins / DFID 2024

    Childcare policy

    Closing childcare policy gaps offers high return on investment

    26 October 2023

    There is a compelling social investment and gender equality case for transforming childcare policies so that they universally and effectively cover children from birth until the start of mandatory primary education, new ILO research has found.

  8. © Sam Phelps/UNICEF Sierra Leone 2024

    Podcast

    Should we treat the care economy as an investment or a cost?

    26 October 2023

    Demand for care already outstrips supply and is expected to increase significantly in the future. Now, new ILO research suggests that spending on care – particularly childcare – could bring a return on investment of more than 3-to-1.

  9. Video

    Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director General’s video message delivered at Women Deliver preconference 2023

    11 September 2023

    Large-scale investment in care policies could be transformative. We must teach ourselves to see care as an investment, said the ILO DG in a pre-conference on the care economy ´Strengthening Care Policies and Intersectional Movements for Care Justice´ organized at Women Deliver 2023 on 16 July 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda.

  10. World Breastfeeding Week 2023

    Employers need to do more to support breastfeeding women in the workplace –UNICEF, ILO

    01 August 2023

    UNICEF and the ILO urge employers in the Philippines to do more to support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace, which is good for mothers, babies and businesses.