Valuing women’s unpaid work

DHAKA, Bangladesh, (IPS) – Women’s work remains unaccounted for even though the issue of unpaid work carried out by women is being discussed globally at the policy, academic as well as practitioners’ levels.

Defined as “unpaid care work,” this includes taking care of children, elderly and the sick, cooking and cleaning, plus agricultural activities such as preservation of seeds, thrashing and drying paddy, poultry and cattle rearing, etc.

These discussions are yet to translate into policy changes, leaving most of what women do uncounted and outside the realm of national statistics or GDP of all countries in the world. Economists have not been able to come up with an alternative calculation of the System of National Accounts (SNA) which is determined globally.

This has led to the non-recognition of the work of a vast majority of women around the world, ultimately resulting in their devaluation, lower status discrimination and often violence.

The undervaluation of women’s work is a global phenomenon. Research shows that women produce 60-80 percent of basic foodstuffs in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean and perform over 50 percent of the labour involved in intensive rice cultivation in Asia.