An alarming 50 per cent of women in India are not part of the labour force. Do you know why? Well, for the same reason that only 10 per cent of women in Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia and Sweden are outside the labour force—due to care responsibilities!
So what are these four countries doing that is allowing more of their women to be an active part of the labour force than their counterparts in India? They are investing in pre-primary education. In fact, they are putting one per cent of their GDP into Early Childhood Care Education or ECCE. India is clearly not doing enough. The same goes for Iran, Egypt, Jordan and Mali. They need to invest more heavily into the care economy, especially in ECCE.
The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) report on ‘The impact of care responsibilities on women’s labour force participation’ makes some revelations and gives us insights into the issue from across the world.
As per ILO data, in 2018, 606 million women of working age across the globe were not participating in the labour market due to care responsibilities. On the other hand, only 41 million men were outside of the labour force for the same reason. Cut to 2023, care responsibilities still remain the main reason for women to be outside the labour force, with 708 million women and only 40 million men unable to enter the labour market due to care responsibilities! There seems to have been no improvement at all.
As per the report, the government’s investment in ECCE does play a significant role in women not being part of the active labour force. That is why in countries where there is high investment in pre-primary education, there are lesser women outside of the labour force and more participating actively in it.
Not surprisingly, many countries have realised this and increased their investments in ECCE. For instance, when Poland and Slovakia increased their investment in pre-primary education from 0.62 in 2018 to 0.76 per cent in 2021, there was a significant drop in the number of women not participating in the workforce due to their involvement in unpaid care work.
The report also reveals that more fathers in Poland availed of the paternity leave in 2023 (67 per cent) compared to 2022 (60 per cent). This was the result of the introduction of nine weeks of paternity leave to each parent in 2023. A whopping 19,000 fathers took parental leave in 2023 compared to 3,700 in 2022. That is a positive change.
A very supportive law to this effect—the Active Parent Programme—will help parents return to work post parental leave. It provides €353 per month towards daycare costs or for hiring a childcare worker or arranging for a close relative. The Slovakian parliament has implemented a law that guarantees entry into kindergarten for any kid that is four years old by September 2024 and three years old by September 2025.
Another success story comes from South Africa, where increasing investment in pre-primary education from 0.08 to 0.10 per cent of GDP during the period 2018 to 2023, resulted in a drop in the share of women outside the labour force due to care—from 22 per cent to 20 per cent. When the Dominican Republic pumped in almost 0.3 per cent of GDP into pre-primary education, the share of women outside the labour force due to care fell from 47 per cent in 2019 to 43 per cent between in 2023.
The benefits are evident, and yet, public investment in ECCE continues to be less than one per cent of GDP among 50 countries with available data. This is way below what is required to enhance childcare needs, promote child development and support women’s employment opportunities.
The report says that this gap in investment would equal an average of 1.5 per cent of GDP globally in a decade’s time (about 1.1 per cent in Europe to 4.2 per cent in Africa).
While ILO recommends that countries invest a minimum of one per cent of GDP to finance early childhood education (ECE), the 50 countries with available data have not met this minimum benchmark.
Only a handful of countries, including the Republic of Moldova, Belarus, Sweden, Bulgaria and Kyrgyzstan, have investments in ECCE in the range of 1 to 1.5 per cent of GDP.
Policy-level changes will be required to ensure that more and more women who are unpaid carers or care givers become part of the active labour force. The first step of course is to invest in ECCE.
The report admits that there have been changes in the world of work, technological advancements, climate change and demographic shifts. These have impacted not just the demand for care services but also their supply and access. Therefore, only policy action can help the situation otherwise the inequalities that prevail will only go from bad to worse. With the pace at which population is ageing in some parts of the world, there is an increasing demand for care workers and social protection. These are pressures that need policies in place to handle them.
Globally, 45 per cent of women are not able to participate in the labour force because of care responsibilities. This percentage is highest in Northern Africa (63 per cent) and the Arab States (59 per cent). Clearly there is need for urgent measures to ensure decent work in the care economy.
Decent work can be promoted by ensuring access to care for all, which requires the implementation of the ILO Resolution concerning decent work and the care economy (2024). This resolution stresses how “a well-functioning care economy not only supports individuals and families, but also contributes to a healthier workforce” through job creation, improved productivity, and positive impact on businesses as well as the society. Only proper policies can eliminate the deeply entrenched gendered division of care responsibilities that prevent women from taking up decent jobs / paid work, limiting their ability to advance in their careers.
