In many societies, women take on most of the
responsibility for caring for families – looking after
children, the elderly, and the sick. UN Women
(2015) says that across the world women spend
2.5 times more time providing care than do men.
This is work that is very important for families
and for society as a whole, but it is usually not
recognized as work (Elson, 2000), and women do
not get paid for doing it, which is why it is called
“unpaid care work”. Many women also work to
earn an income. They have to do so because
otherwise the family does not have enough
money. Women work because they want to as
well; they feel empowered by contributing to the
family income, and it adds to their independence.
However, earning an income does not mean that
women’s caring responsibilities become less –
they are expected to be both carers and workers,
and this can cause many difficulties.
We know, for example, that the responsibility
for unpaid care work contributes to the fact that
women are more likely than men to work in forms
of employment which are insecure and where
earnings are low. Women are more likely to work
part-time or stop working while their children are
very young (Cook and Dong, 2011; Razavi, 2011).
That women are seen as carers can also affect
earnings because women are much more likely to
work in low-paid “caring” professions, including
paid child care work and domestic work (Lund,
2010). In turn, low incomes mean that women
do not have the time or necessary resources to
spend on child care. This can leave them feeling
depressed and guilty about not providing the kind
of care they would like to provide for their children
or family members.