Resources on Care Economy

  1. Gender equality and women workers

    Investments in childcare for gender equality in Asia and the Pacific

    01 August 2023

    The report highlights why and how investing in childcare impacts positively on gender equality and decent work in Asia and the Pacific.

  2. © Marcin Jozwiak 2024

    Work-life balance

    Working mothers squeezed out of labour force by COVID-19

    30 November 2020

    Families are making tough decisions about who keeps their paid job and who quits to provide the unpaid care needed at home during the COVID-19 crisis. Mainly it is women who are sacrificing their careers.

  3. © Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP 2024

    COVID-19: Protecting workers in the workplace

    Women health workers: Working relentlessly in hospitals and at home

    07 April 2020

    Women globally make up over 70 per cent of workers in health, including those working in care institutions. They are on the front line of the fight against COVID-19. As a result of the pandemic they are facing a double burden: longer shifts at work and additional care work at home.

  4. Publication

    Expanding women's employment opportunities: Informal economy workers and the need for childcare

    01 November 2007

    Childcare plays an essential role in supporting the employment of workers, and particularly women who continue to carry the primary responsibility for childcare in most societies. The lack of childcare support undermines women’s employment and steers women into the poorly paid, poorly protected informal economy. To address the gender dimension of informality, policy responses, programmes and projects need to recognize that providing childcare is a basic necessity for expanding women’s employment opportunities and enabling them to shift from informal economy activity to formal economic activity. The paper explores good practices on supporting the child care needs of informal workers through a series of well documented examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America.