Redistributing Care Work for Gender Equality and Justice: A training curriculum

Overview

People contribute to the economy through their work in many different ways. Women and men contribute to the productive economy by producing goods and services that people use every day. It is this work that is counted and measured by governments. Yet the work of social reproduction ‘ which refers to the activities needed to ensure the reproduction of the labour force ‘ is not counted. Unpaid care work is a component of social reproduction relating specifically to all the activities that go towards caring for people within a household or community. This work is not paid, requires time and energy, is done mostly by women and girls, and supports all the activities in the productive economy.

Designed for community facilitators working with illiterate or semi-literate groups, this training curriculum is intended for women and men to understand and challenge the conventional view of the economy by putting care for people and the environment first. It unpacks how power can be challenged at the household, community and state levels to recognize, reduce and redistribute women’s unpaid care work. It proposes that a collective sharing of the responsibility, costs and work of care among institutions (public, private, communities and households) and among women and men leads to the realization of rights for all.