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Transitions and invisible: Equal Care Day draws attention to inequality in care work

Unpaid care work, unequal pay, language abuses and experiences of violence must be overcome if we as a society want to live happier and more sustainable and better together. This is particularly true for women in economically disadvantaged countries.

‘I take care of myself.’ As naturally this phrase is pronounced by women, probably several times a day, so naturally has society become accustomed to the fact that women are responsible for the tasks of care. And for the most part, it is free.

More than 12 billion hours of care work a day, according to an Oxfam study from 2020, women and girls worldwide do without being paid for it. Whether washing, cleaning or cooking, helping children with school work, caring for sick relatives, organising family celebrations or leisure activities, comforting, responding to the needs of others and taking responsibility - for society and the economy, the care work performed by millions of women within the family is essential. And it doesn't matter.

Where nursing and caring activities are rewarded, it does not look better. The high demands on the majority of female specialists are not paid adequately.

Attention is needed

With the Action Day launched in 2016, the Equal Care Day initiative calls for more recognition and appreciation for care work, promotes better distribution and also wants to achieve structural changes.

The gender care gap, as well as the gender pay gap, i.e. the devaluation of the care activities performed by women, as well as income inequality, represent a transnational phenomenon. Women in the Global South are particularly hard hit. The unfair distribution of care work and income is extremely threatening for them and a further risk of falling into poverty or barely being able to overcome it.

FEMNET projects demonstrate discrimination against women as care workers

Our project work emphatically shows how the poor working conditions of female workers in the production factories and welfare work are related, with dire consequences for social and economic developments.

Abuse and exploitation, which runs through the factory hierarchy in the textile sector, place a heavy burden on women, both psychologically and physically. Chronic illnesses, lack of time and money prevent women from taking proper care of themselves, their children and other family members. And so the burden of household work and care work weighs twice as heavy.

Improving the structural environment in the workplace is an important and effective way to lead women and girls into an independent and empowered life. Step by step, FEMNET has reached thousands of textile workers and factory managers through its educational work, through training or through the establishment of complaint committees. Together, for example, it was not only possible to raise awareness of violence, but also to prevent it.

Overcoming inequality also involves ensuring comprehensive health protection that takes gender-specific risks into account. Appropriate occupational health and safety measures for workers in the garment and footwear sector in India and Indonesia are therefore the focus of our gender-responsive health initiative. Together with our partners, we want to put gender-specific needs in the foreground, balance power asymmetries and also physically strengthen women.

The invisible and unpaid care work, mostly done by the female population, is the foundation of every society. Let's give her the attention she deserves on February 29th, the day she was given.

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