Unpaid care and domestic work—encompassing market activities from cooking and cleaning to child and elder care – plays a critical role in upholding the economy, making all other work possible. The global value of this work is close to $11 trillion annually, according to estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

This article is based on the APEC Embracing Carers Policy Toolkit to Address the Unpaid Care Gap. All statistics and country examples come from this report unless otherwise hyperlinked. The Maternal Health Initiative is proud to have been a part of the Expert Advisory Group that helped to inform the development of this toolkit.

Unpaid care and domestic work—encompassing market activities from cooking and cleaning to child and elder care – plays a critical role in upholding the economy, making all other work possible. The global value of this work is close to $11 trillion annually, according to estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Cultural and social norms that assign women caregiving and domestic responsibilities mean that care work is disproportionately undertaken by women all over the world. As a result, unpaid care work is often undervalued and deemed less important when compared to other “profit-generating” work, despite being essential to the functioning of society.

In the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region, for instance, women spend nearly three times more time on unpaid care work than men. Many women also balance the responsibilities of caregiving for both younger and older family members while managing their own personal and professional obligations at the same time.

The APEC Embracing Carers Policy Toolkit to Address the Unpaid Care Gap, published in December 2023, advocates for investment in caregiving by providing evidence-based solutions to support and empower unpaid carers within APEC member states. The Toolkit offers a roadmap for member economies to prioritize gender-responsive policies and invest in infrastructure, ultimately paving the way for a more equitable future.

Policymakers are the primary target audience for this new resource, but its analysis will also inform government officials from various sectors such as health, gender, finance, and labor within APEC member economies. Representatives from academia, the private sector, and other relevant stakeholders will also receive valuable new understanding of this issue and while this toolkit was developed for APEC member states, maybe of the solutions are transferable.

Key Toolkit Takeaways

The need for culturally responsive care measures that consider intersectionality and local contexts is at the center of the Toolkit, which also highlights the importance of recognizing the linkages between unpaid and paid care work. The new resource emphasizes the need to professionalize care work, ensure fair wages, and implement social protections for all caregivers (including those in the disability community) across APEC member economies and beyond.

The Toolkit incorporates the “5R framework for decent care.” This is a model of action-oriented policy objectives developed by the ILO to recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work, reduce the burden of unpaid care work, redistribute care responsibilities, reward carers for their invaluable contributions, and represent carers’ voices.

A Spotlight on Reframing

A sixth “R” – reframe – was added during the development of this Toolkit and is central to making substantive gains. This reframing will promote positive gender socialization from an early age. Shifting away from norms that reinforce gender roles in caregiving requires a change in perspective.

The work of reframing involves recognizing the value of care work and investing in comprehensive care policies, services, and infrastructure. This can be accomplished through initiatives such as fair wages for care professionals, addressing gender-based pay disparities, launching educational campaigns highlighting the significance of caregiving, and providing labor protections for caregivers.

Utilizing school settings to change gender norms early on is a promising approach, but it often lacks clear actions in implementation. To address this, the Toolkit suggests integrating age-appropriate gender-transformative content into primary and secondary school curricula, that reflects the diverse realities of children from various backgrounds. For example, Chinese Taipei’s Ministry of Education incorporated concepts of equal distribution and co- responsibility of unpaid care and domestic work between men and women into its textbooks.

The Toolkit also identifies unequal representation of women in positions of power in both the public and private sectors as a critical issue that reduces emphasis on caregiving in policymaking. The resource stresses the need to encourage leaders to endorse policies that facilitate the economic participation and well-being of women and other marginalized groups that are often overlooked.

By reframing caregiving, the Toolkit emphasizes the need to shift societal norms, value caregiving, and ensure that policies align with the lived experiences of caregivers. Ultimately, these activities will contribute to a more equitable and supportive society.