Macarena Sáez
Executive Director, Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch
Empower women with economic autonomy by addressing barriers to full participation in the labour force and recognising the value of unpaid care work.
Empowering women means acknowledging their agency in decisions about work, family, health and all other aspects of life. To achieve gender equality, governments and the international community must identify and remove barriers hindering women’s autonomy, such as limited labour force participation and economic independence.
Women facing labour inequality
Despite a slight increase in women’s participation in paid work after the decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re still unemployed and underpaid at higher rates than men. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), in 2023, female participation in the labour market stood at 61.4% while male participation reached 90.6%.
Women’s employment is also concentrated in lower-paying areas like the care sector, which is undervalued partly because these jobs are more likely to be filled by women, and they include work traditionally performed by women without pay.
Women burdened in informal economy
Unsurprisingly, in most countries, more women than men work in the informal economy. Additionally, women carry out most of the unpaid domestic care work, including cleaning, cooking and caring for children or older and sick relatives. The ILO calculates that women spend about three times more time on unpaid work than men.
In 2023, female participation in the labour market stood at 61.4% while male participation reached 90.6%.
These responsibilities mean that the rigid schedules and lengthy time commitments that many jobs might demand create particular burdens for women, especially for single mothers who need both money and flexibility. However, informal jobs have downsides; one of the prominent characteristics is the lack of security — including protection from violence and harassment — and legal protections, such as minimum wages and access to social security.
Empowerment through policy consultation
To increase women’s economic autonomy, governments must recognise the economic value of unpaid care work. Governments also need to ensure that families, especially single-parent households, have access to childcare and care for other dependents so that all parents can participate in the labour force. Additionally, governments should increase labour protections for informal workers, so they can also enjoy their rights to social security and healthcare.
Most importantly, strengthening women’s autonomy requires consulting those most affected by these obstacles about how to address them. Care economy policies should be designed in consultation with the women who engage in care work and are most marginalised by its invisibility. Hopefully, there will be a time when unpaid care work will be equally distributed, and paid care work will be fairly compensated — regardless of gender.
