Care work is important for economies in general and India needs to have a strategy and action plan for better policies
Care work is important for economies in general and India needs to have a strategy and action plan for better policies
Higher investment in care services could create an additional 300 million jobs globally, many of which would be for women. This in turn will help increase female labor force participation and advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8 (which ‘promotes sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and good work for all’) .
Still ‘ignored’ by policy
Every year 8 March is celebrated as International Women’s Day. The immense contribution of women in all walks of life is often overlooked, unfairly valued, and rarely rewarded. This is especially evident in ‘care work – both paid and unpaid,’ which is vital to a future of good work. care work This includes direct activities such as baby-feeding or caring for a sick partner, and indirect care activities such as cooking and cleaning. Whether paid or unpaid, direct or indirect, care work is vital to human well-being and economies. Unpaid care work is linked to labor market inequalities, yet it has yet to receive substantial attention in policy making. Paid care workers like domestic workers and anganwadis in India also struggle to access rights and entitlements as workers.
The importance of care work is now widely acknowledged and incorporated into various international commitments such as the SDGs and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Centenary Declaration. Since March 2020, the demand for care services has skyrocketed. However, investment in the care economy is not matching the pace. This year, to commemorate International Women’s Day, the ILO released its new report, titled, ‘Care at work: investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work’, The ILO is the only tripartite United Nations agency that brings together governments, employers and workers from 187 member states to set labor standards, develop policies and programs to promote good work for all women and men. brings.
profit down the line
The report highlights the importance of maternity, paternity and special care leave, which help women and men balance work and family responsibilities throughout their lives. Furthermore, it shows that workplaces that provide time, income security and space for care services such as breastfeeding enable positive nutritional and health outcomes.
Bridging the gaps in existing policies and service provisions for nurturing childcare and elderly care services will benefit child development, aging with dignity and independent living as the population grows and more and better employment opportunities, especially for women are also born.
maternity leave, child care
Maternity leave is a universal human and labor right. Yet, it remains incomplete across the country, leaving millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support. India has fared better than its peers in offering maternity leave of 26 weeks, while the ILO’s standard mandate of 14 weeks exists in 120 countries. However, this coverage extends to only a small proportion of female workers in formal employment in India, where 89% of employed women are in informal employment (as provided by ILOSTAT, or the ILO’s Central Portal of Labor Statistics). While paternity leave is recognized as an enabler for better balancing work and family responsibilities for both mother and father, it is not provided in many countries including India. Globally, the average paternity leave is nine days, further compounding the inequality.
Access to quality and affordable care services such as child care, elderly care and care for people with disabilities is a challenge for which workers facing family responsibilities globally. While India has a long history of mandating the provision of crches in factories and establishments, there is limited information about its actual implementation. There is scope for improvement in availability, accessibility, affordability and quality. Another important distinction to be addressed is the working conditions of care workers. Although childcare and Anganwadi workers perform important work, and childcare is recognized as a professional work in advanced countries, they are not recognized as workers and do not have access to the rights and entitlements of workers in India.
Domestic workers, on whom Indian families are heavily dependent, also face challenges in accessing decent work. they became informal Care workers during the novel coronavirus pandemic without adequate social or health protection measures. According to the government’s 2019 estimates, out of 3.9 million domestic workers in India, 2.6 million are women. While important developments have provided formal coverage to domestic workers in India, such as the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and the minimum wage schedule in many states, more efforts are needed to ensure decent work for them. the wanted. Recognizing care workers and promoting good work for all, including domestic and childcare workers, is also essential for India to achieve the SDGs, which have the principle of ‘leave no one behind’. They, like all other workers, need to enjoy basic human and worker rights and receive fair wages, a workplace free from violence and harassment, good working conditions and social security among other benefits .
see it as the public good
India spends less than 1% of its GDP on the care economy; Increasing this percentage will have a lot of benefits for the workers and the economy as a whole. Therefore, in consultation with employers and labor organizations and relevant stakeholders, the government needs to conceptualize a strategy and action plan for better care policies, care service provisions and good working conditions for care workers. The ILO proposes a 5R framework for decent care work focused on achieving gender equality. The framework urges recognition, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care work, rewards care workers with more and decent work, and enables their representation in social dialogue and collective bargaining. Care work should be seen as a collective responsibility and for the public good.
A human-centered and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that benefits workers, employers and government requires more significant investment and commitment to support the care economy, which cares for society at large .
Dagmar Walter is the director of the International Labor Organization for South Asia, the Decent Work Technical Support Team (DWT) and the Country Office for India.