DAWN FOSTER
Women’s labour is undervalued. Few could argue with that statement: the evidence is available anecdotally in our day to day lives, in the types of work available to women across the globe, and in the pay and remuneration women receive for their labour. Statistically, it’s undeniable: wherever a labour market exists, a gender pay gap is evident. Speaking at the IAFFE, Nuria Molina and Kasia Staswezska pointed out that globally, the cost of the gender pay gap is $17trillion: comparable to the combined gross domestic product of France, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
But focussing on paid labour overlooks the problem of care in attempts to widen and improve women’s economic empowerment globally. Priya Raghavan argues that addressing heavy and unequal care is the only way of achieving more economic justice for women. While women carry out more housework and more childcare, economic empowerment often means that paid labour is taken on in addition to the heavy burden of care work in the home.
Gender inequality even affects sleep, when it comes to work. Due to care burdens, women sleep less than men even when they are not participating in paid work, an ActionAid report into households in ten developing countries showed. Oxfam found that in the six countries they surveyed, when combining paid work, and unpaid care work, women worked for more hours than men in every country. So while unpaid care and work is undervalued, it also encroaches on women’s leisure, and rest, and therefore health.
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