The recent International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) conference highlighted two big challenges standing in the way of the UN’s ambitions to address unpaid care and domestic work so that it is valued and shared equitably. Chama Mwandalesa – who joined the annual gathering in Rome – explains.
For the over 800+ activists and scholars who gathered last month at the biggest ever IAFFE conference in Rome, achievement of UN Sustainable development Goal Target 5.4 remains absolutely central to our vision of a world that delivers on valuing care and economic gender justice.
That target is to “recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies, and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate“.
As part of the feminist economic justice community, my journey through the conference highlighted two huge obstacles to moving towards this goal: a lack of data and the burden of debt depriving women and girls in poorer countries of the crucial public services that could transform their lives.
SDG Target 5.4: Valuing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
SDG Target 5.4 is a clarion call for public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies that recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work as well as foster greater sharing of household responsibilities. The realization of this target would significantly reduce the unequal share of unpaid care work shouldered by women and girls, and redistribute care responsibilities equitably at all levels, between women and men, in households, communities, the world of work and with the state, in line with the 5R framework for addressing unpaid care and domestic work. To realize the SDG target, nations must invest in the provision of high-quality, universally accessible:
- Public healthcare: Reducing and redistributing the unpaid healthcare responsibilities predominantly shouldered by women, particularly in the Global South.
- Early Childhood Education: Providing services that reduce the time and income poverty of women and girl caregivers, as well as helping to prepare young children for school.
- Critical infrastructures: Enhancing access to necessities like clean water and sanitation, electricity, and transportation are all vital to reducing unpaid care and domestic work.
- Universal Social Protection: Broadening the scope and reach of national social protection programs to all women, including those working in the informal economy, in ways that support the right to give and receive care.
But there is a big data problem…
How much time are women around the world spending on household chores and childcare? How much time do they have left for leisure and rest, to engage in decent paid work, or to participate in political decision-making? And how, crucially, does that compare to men in their households and in the community?
Answering these vital questions relies on “time use data”, which the World Bank describes as “how many minutes or hours individuals devote to activities such as paid work, unpaid work including household chores and childcare, leisure, and self-care”.
Yet such data is too often missing. That makes it impossible to judge the current state of care loads overall, the inequality in care loads within households in many countries, or to track movement towards SDG target 5.4 and gauge the impact of policies aimed at achieving it. Similarly, the data deficiency is a major barrier to crafting policies that bolster support for women and girls’ rights. That’s why feminist scholars and activists at IAFFE during the sessions on time use rightly called for action on the part of governments for better data collection and usage to inform decisions that can lead to meaningful change. Interestingly, they also noted that even where the data did exist there seemed to be limited political will to make use of this data to inform social and economic policy, particularly for countries in the Global South – which is an issue that Oxfam and partners have already shown keen interest in addressing.
The debt crisis that is robbing women of vital public services
At sessions dedicated to feminist fiscal justice in the Global South, the spectre of a debt crisis and its impact on women also loomed large. Panelists such as the brilliant Jennifer Lipenga from Akina Mama Wa Afrika and Farah Al Shami from the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) and others painted a grim picture: countries are grappling with the most severe debt crisis on record. Africa’s plight is particularly dire, with a staggering 54% of government revenue going towards debt servicing – far higher than the global average of 38%.
Before the 2023 World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, Oxfam projected that – in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis – over half of the world’s poorest countries were set to slash public spending by $229 billion over the next five years due to crushing levels of debt and austerity, often linked to IMF loan programs. The repercussions? A drastic reduction in funds for the critical investments needed to achieve SDG Target 5.4 and realize wider human rights for women, such as in education, health, social protection, and climate initiatives.
In fact, cuts to public spending in the Global South risk not only further stalling progress on gender equality but also the entire SDG agenda.
As feminists, we will need to overcome the obstacles
What was clear from the conference is that feminist movements and activists in the Global South and Global North, including their allies in wider civil society, including Oxfam, need to amplify our advocacy and clear the pathway to economic gender justice.
First, we must continue to build coalitions and a collective voice to confront austerity policies and narratives – often imposed by international financial institutions such as the IMF – and remind and hold states accountable on their duty to protect and promote human rights, including the rights of all women and girls. Second, we need to press for the necessary levels of public investment in public services, social protection and infrastructure that are key to development, including the reduction and redistribution of women’s unpaid care and domestic work and wider gender justice, and for these measures to be financed through progressive taxation, including taxes on wealth. And finally, we need to build the case and space for alternative metrics by highlighting the significance of time use data, the importance of its systematic collection and its potential to transform the lives of women and girls as it supports and informs better policy and investment decisions.
More broadly, we need to sustain our joint advocacy and efforts to shift power for a feminist and gender just world which is built on decolonial feminist alternatives, policies and practices that center care and wellbeing for people and planet. At Oxfam, our recently launched Gender Justice Strategy has recommitted to a feminist and gender just future that includes feminist transformation and systems change for economic and climate justice. Let us work together to make that happen.
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