Alongside their low paid work, many women informal workers are responsible for cooking,
cleaning and the care of children, the ill and the elderly due to socially ascribed roles. On average
across 66 countries, representing two-thirds of the world’s population, women spend more than
three times as much time as men on unpaid care and domestic work in their own homes (ODI
2016). Having a young child at home significantly increases the time women spend on unpaid
care work consisting of nursing, breastfeeding and looking after the child (direct care), as well as
cleaning, cooking, laundry and water collection (indirect care) (Budlender 2008, Cook and Dong
2011). Research from Colombia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and the Philippines shows that
amongst low income households women’s unpaid care work does not decrease once they start
engaging in paid work; instead, their overall workload increases (Oxfam 2014).