Tag Archives: Women

The $10.9 Trillion Invisible Economy: Recognizing the Value of Women’s Unpaid Labour

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During one of the International Women’s Day events in February, I heard something that made me want to check it out further. According to an analysis by Oxfam, if women around the world received the minimum wage for every hour of their unpaid labour, they would have contributed a staggering $10.9 trillion to the global economy in 2020 – more than twice the size of the global tech industry that same year, valued at $5.2 trillion. Women’s unpaid labour is a staggering economic contribution that often goes unrecognised and undervalued.

Unpaid labour falls into two main categories: unpaid work within the production boundary of the System of National Accounts (SNA), such as subsistence agriculture or construction of one’s own home, which contributes to GDP but is not monetarily compensated; and unpaid work outside the SNA production boundary, such as domestic labour like cooking, cleaning, childcare, and caring for the elderly or sick within households for their own consumption. This type of unpaid labor is not included in GDP calculations.

The key aspects that define unpaid labor are that it involves mental or physical effort and is costly in terms of time and resources; the individual performing the activity is not remunerated or paid for their work; and it includes activities necessary for the health, well-being, maintenance, and protection of household members or the household itself.

Unpaid labour encompasses a wide range of activities beyond just household chores, such as volunteering, interning, and other forms of unpaid community work. However, the term “unpaid care work” specifically refers to unpaid domestic activities like cooking, cleaning, childcare, and caring for other dependents within the household.

Women bear a disproportionate share of this invisible burden. Oxfam reports that women and girls handle more than three-quarters or 75%, of the world’s unpaid care work, carrying out 12.5 billion hours of this work every day. In the United States, women complete an average of 4.5 hours of unpaid labour daily, while men complete 2.8 hours.

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The unequal distribution of unpaid care work between women and men represents a violation of women’s rights and a barrier to their economic empowerment. This gender gap persists across regions, socio-economic classes, and cultures, rooted in discriminatory social norms and stereotypes about gender roles.

In some countries, the gap is particularly stark. In India, women spend almost six hours a day managing the home, while Indian men spend a paltry 52 minutes. Even in more gender-equal countries like Sweden and Norway, women still complete 42 and 50 more minutes of unpaid labour per day, respectively, than men.

The disproportionate share of unpaid work that women do has a significant impact on their careers and professional opportunities. Women’s career paths are often hampered by a “broken rung,” facing difficulties when it comes to stepping up to managerial roles. For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, only 87 women were promoted, according to 2023 data.

Unpaid care work is also directly linked to the gender pay gap within households. Because women’s salaries tend to be lower, they are usually the ones who stop working to take over childcare, further exacerbating the pay gap. Additionally, women responsible for a large amount of unpaid care work may find it difficult to work full-time hours, limiting their job opportunities.

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Tackling entrenched social norms and gender stereotypes is a crucial step in redistributing responsibilities for care and housework between women and men. Public awareness campaigns, education programmes, and financial incentives for fathers to take parental leave could promote a fairer distribution of the unpaid workload.

Countries with robust welfare programs that provide care for children and older people, such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, have higher gender parity in unpaid labour. Sweden, for example, gives parents 480 days of paid parental leave to be shared between them, promoting a more equal sharing of care responsibilities. Creating a supportive culture for working parents and caregivers through policies like flexible work schedules and teleworking, can also help women balance their paid and unpaid responsibilities.

Governments can also recognise and measure unpaid labour and incorporate the measurement of unpaid care work into national statistics and GDP calculations to make the economic value of this work visible. They should also conduct research and collect data on the time spent on unpaid care work by women and men to better understand the issue. Governments should also invest in public services and infrastructure that can reduce the time and effort required for unpaid care tasks, such as childcare facilities, elder care services, and time-saving household technologies, as well as implement family-friendly policies like flexible work arrangements, teleworking, and paid parental leave to enable both women and men to better balance paid work and unpaid care responsibilities. This will reduce the burden of unpaid labour.

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They can also redistribute unpaid labour more equally by tackling discriminatory social norms and gender stereotypes that associate unpaid care work with women, through public awareness campaigns and education programs, providing financial incentives and policies to encourage men to take on a greater share of unpaid care work, such as “use-it-or-lose-it” parental leave policies, and adopting a “care lens” in policymaking across different sectors to ensure that the redistribution of unpaid care work is considered. Legal and social protections for paid care workers, like improving wages, working conditions, and social protections for paid domestic and care workers, who are often women and work in the informal sector, should be initiated to achieve greater gender equality and unlock the full economic potential of women.

The staggering value of women’s unpaid labour, estimated at $10.9 trillion globally, highlights the urgent need to recognise, reduce, and redistribute this invisible burden. Addressing gender inequality in unpaid care work is not only a matter of women’s rights and economic empowerment but also a crucial step towards achieving gender equality and unlocking the full potential of societies worldwide. As we confront the realities of women’s unpaid labour and its profound economic and social implications, we are reminded of the urgent need for collective action and solidarity. By recognising the true value of women’s contributions, advocating for policy reforms, and challenging gender norms and stereotypes, we can create a more just, equitable, and inclusive world for all. Let us harness the power of awareness, advocacy, and activism to dismantle the invisible barriers that perpetuate gender inequality and pave the way for a brighter future for generations to come.

In My Hands Today…

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Housewife: Why Women Still Do It All and What to Do Instead – Lisa Selin Davis

The notion of “housewife” evokes strong reactions. For some, it’s nostalgia for a bygone era, simpler and better times when men were breadwinners and women remained home with the kids. For others, it’s a sexist, oppressive stereotype of women’s work. Either way, housewife is a long outdated concept—or is it?

Lisa Selin Davis, known for her smart, viral, feminist, cultural takes, argues that the “breadwinner vs. homemaker” divide is a myth. She charts examples from prehistoric female hunters to working class housewives in the 1930s, from First Ladies to 21st century stay-at-home moms, on a search for answers to the problems of what is referred to as women’s work and motherhood. Davis discovers that women have been sold a lie about what families should be. Housewife unveils a interdependence, rather than independence, is the American way.

The book is a clarion call for all women—married or single, mothers or childless—and for men, too, to push for liberation. In Housewife , Davis builds a case for systemic, cultural, and personal change, to encourage women to have the power to choose the best path for themselves.

In My Hands Today…

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Women Money Power: The Rise and Fall of Economic Equality – Josie Cox

For centuries, women were denied equal access to money and the freedom and power that came with it. They were restricted from owning property or transacting in real estate. Even well into the 20th century, women could not take out their own loans or own bank accounts without their husband’s permission. They could be fired for getting married or pregnant, and if they still had a job, they could be kept from certain roles, restricted from working longer hours, and paid less than men for equal work.

It was a raw deal, and women weren’t happy with it. So they pushed back. In Women Money Power , financial journalist Josie Cox tells the story of women’s fight for financial freedom. This is an inspirational account of brave pioneers who took on social mores and the law, including the “Rosies” who filled industrial jobs vacated by men and helped win WWII, the heiress whose fortune helped create the birth control pill, the brassy investor who broke into the boys’ club of the New York Stock Exchange, and the namesake of landmark equal pay legislation who refused to accept discrimination.

But as any woman can tell you, the battle for equality—for money and power—is far from over. Cox delves deep into the challenges women face today and the culture and systems that hold them back. This is a fascinating narrative account of progress, women’s lives, and the work still to be done.

In My Hands Today…

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All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today – Elizabeth Comen

For as long as medicine has been a practice, women’s bodies have been treated like objects to be practiced on: examined and ignored, idealized and sexualized, shamed, subjugated, mutilated, and dismissed. The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal legacy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women.

While the modern age has seen significant advancements in the medical field, the notion that female bodies are flawed inversions of the male ideal lingers on—as do the pervasive societal stigmas and lingering ignorance that shape women’s health and relationships with their own bodies.

Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen peels back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives and experiences laid the foundation for today’s medical thought, and the many oversights that still remain unaddressed. With a physician’s knowledge and empathy, Dr. Comen follows the road map of the eleven organ systems to share unique and untold stories, drawing upon medical texts and journals, interviews with expert physicians, as well as her own experience treating thousands of women.

Empowering women to better understand ourselves and advocate for care that prioritizes healthy and joyful lives—for us and generations to come—All in Her Head is written with humor, wisdom, and deep scientific and cultural insight. Eye-opening, sometimes enraging, yet always captivating, this shared memoir of women’s medical history is an essential contribution to a holistic understanding and much-needed reclaiming of women’s history and bodies.

In My Hands Today…

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All the Single Ladies – Rebecca Traister

In 2009, award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister started All the Single Ladies about the twenty-first century phenomenon of the American single woman. It was the year the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, which had remained between twenty and twenty-two years old for nearly a century (1890–1980), had risen dramatically to twenty-seven.

But over the course of her vast research and more than a hundred interviews with academics and social scientists and prominent single women, Traister discovered a startling truth: the phenomenon of the single woman in America is not a new one. And historically, when women were given options beyond early heterosexual marriage, the results were massive social change—temperance, abolition, secondary education, and more. Today, only twenty percent of Americans are married by age twenty-nine, compared to nearly sixty percent in 1960.