How to make valuing all women's work a reality

A lot of the work women do is unpaid or low paid. This is true in the UK and worldwide.

This is because society has always had rigid rules around men’s roles and women’s roles. And strongly held beliefs and attitudes about gender. And about women’s abilities.

While these rules have changed in some cases, some rules, such as who looks after the children, does the cooking and runs the home, have mostly stayed in place.

In many parts of the world, while women are now in paid work, they are paid less for the same work, are often in low-paid positions or vulnerable work, and do most of the unpaid care work. As a result of unjust systems, the most precarious, insecure and unrewarded work is commonly done by Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) and/ or migrant women.

The work women are doing is taken for granted, ignored, uncounted and yet invaluable to societies, economies and companies.

The true value of all women's work deserves to be recognised, fairly measured and invested in as part of the global economy.

Women have an equal right for their work to be rewarded, to work free from violence and harm, and to live free from poverty.

We might think of work as anything someone is employed to do. But informal and unpaid care work is carried out by 1.3 billion women around the world. The majority of these women are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC). And that work is just as much work as the work people are formally employed to do. The pandemic has made it especially clear that unpaid care work and domestic work are as important as paid work. The wellbeing of households, families and economies depends on the care and domestic work.

Informal work is work done without job security. And without basic job benefits, such as, holiday, sick and maternity pay.

Companies avoid their obligations. And governments ignore people's wellbeing.

Companies exclude many workers in their supply chains. They do this by outsourcing production and distribution of their products to ‘self-employed’ or informally employed workers. They avoid responsibility for the costs - including minimum or living wages - of family, rest time, or illness. Women and Black, Indigenous and People of Colour are crowded into this informal/outsourced employment.

The lack of universal entitlements remove informally employed and unpaid women workers of their status, dignity and rights.

Unpaid care work is work like caring for children or relatives, including elderly relatives. And all housework. Unpaid care work is mostly done by women.

The fact that so many women carry out unpaid care work, and women do 75% of it, without being compensated for it leaves them poorer and less able to undertake paid work. It leaves them without recognition as workers from governments. Without recognition from the private sector. And without recognition from society. So women are not rewarded for the vital contribution the work makes towards our economies and societies.

42% of working-age women are unwillingly outside the paid labour force because unpaid care responsibilities take up their time.

Economic models and labour markets are racist and patriarchal. They protect those with wealth and power. And allow systemic exploitation.

There is a global data gap on how race, ethnicity, sex and gender intersect to exclude women, especially women of colour, from dignified work. This represents a fundamental - and not-accidental - barrier. The data gap stops all of us from building better financial systems, regulation and supply chains.

It is estimated that if all the unpaid care work women did was properly invested in, it would count as the third biggest sector. This sector would contribute more than manufacturing, commerce or transport. Instead, many women who have to do unpaid care work rather than being employed have little time to fight the system that is pushing them into poverty.

The pandemic has made the unfair economy more visible but also much worse.

While some have profited vastly, extra caring responsibilities and zero-hour or non-contracted (informal) workers have been excluded from most pandemic relief schemes.

The pandemic has also meant even more job losses for women. In the UK, women were about a third more likely than men to work in a sector shut down by the pandemic (such as retail and catering).

Any Covid recovery can’t be just unless women, LGBTQIA+, racialised and other marginalised communities’ voices are represented – in decision making and in funding.

Care work is for everyone to do and not about gender roles. Any good Covid recovery plan needs equal distribution of care work.

Climate change is threatening humankind and pushing people into poverty. It is destroying crops and water sources. What’s more, the unfair expectations that women face mean they’re the ones more likely to go hungry when food is short. And to fall back on unsafe work when harvests fail. They’re likely to be the ones walking further to collect water when it’s scarce during more frequent and harsher droughts, often at risk to their own safety.

Women are experts in building peaceful futures for their communities. Any efforts to resolve the conflicts and their root causes will require women to play a full and equal part.

Women campaign to bring about peace at the local level. Even when marginalised at a national level, women continue to call for human rights and call out the challenges communities face. Many women in conflict have to and end up filling gaps when men and youth take up arms. They pick up the burden in and out of the home. All this despite being subjected to violence. Women-led organisations deliver humanitarian work. And where possible, development work. They are a core part of civil society.

This isn’t about getting more women into work, it’s about changing the system that too often ignores, oppresses and excludes women.

This is about women’s fundamental rights. About pushing for an economy that works for all people and our planet.

As global citizens, we all have a part to play.

Together, let’s fund, campaign, and join the growing global movement. Let's make a difference in the lives of 1.3 billion informal women workers and unpaid carers worldwide. And join together to profoundly change our global economy. For a future where everyone has the power and respect needed to overcome poverty and injustice for good.

• Equal rights
• Respect, recognition and investment
• A fair, caring economy

The very definition of work must transform.

Women have an equal right for their hard work to be rewarded and protected. To work safely from harm. And to live free from poverty.

For the true value of the work women do to be respected, recognised, redistributed and reduced, as well as fairly measured and invested in, as part of the global economy.

We want to see millions of informal women workers and unpaid carers get the same rights as those in formal contracted and ‘quality’ jobs. This must include the right for workers to participate in economic decision making. Women migrant, Black and minority ethnic workers must be included.

We want to see a shift so that women’s informal and unpaid work is concretely valued by governments and businesses.

There’s a surge of women’s rights activists and economists working for a better, fairer world. Oxfam has been fighting for women’s rights and economic justice for decades. So we're in a strong position to contribute to this growing movement. Join us!

Around the world today, you’re more likely to be poor if you’re a woman. But we’re working with communities to change that. We’re helping more women to earn a living, understand their rights and challenge discrimination.

• We’re supporting more girls to get the education they deserve.
• We’re helping more women to earn a living
• We’re helping more women to understand their rights, challenge discrimination and to take up leadership roles within their local communities.

The route out of poverty is to value women's work, not to erase it.