A new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that 708 million women worldwide were outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities.
The new ILO global estimates released on Tuesday on the occasion of the International Day of Care and Support, indicated that last year, 748 million people (aged 15 or older) were not participating in the global labour force because of care responsibilities, accounting for a third of all working-age persons outside of the labour force.
The labour organization confirmed that of this number, 708 million were women and 40 million were men.
The new estimates, presented in the ILO Statistical brief titled ‘The Impact of Care Responsibilities on Women’s Labour Force Participation’ were derived from data from 125 countries.
They indicated that care responsibilities presented the main barrier to women entering and staying in the labour force, while men were more likely to cite other personal reasons for being outside the labour force, such as education and health issues.
According to the ILO, this stark gender discrepancy highlights the disproportionate role that women take on in child-rearing, care, and support for persons with disabilities and those in need of long-term care, housekeeping, and other care responsibilities.
Globally, the estimates reflected that around 1.6 billion women and 800 million men were outside the labour force, with 45 per cent of these women and 5 per cent of these men, citing care responsibilities as the reason for their non-participation.
Among women aged 25 to 54, the proportion citing care as the reason for being outside the workforce rises to two-thirds (379 million women) even as women with lower education and those in rural areas also face higher barriers to workforce participation due to care responsibilities.
Commenting on the findings, ILO Director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department, Sukti Dasgupta, said: “Women shoulder a disproportionate share of care responsibilities, preventing their participation in the labour force due to factors such as low education levels, limited job opportunities, poor infrastructure, rural residence, and inadequate care and support systems. Additionally, societal expectations and norms around caregiving further restrict women’s labour market inclusion, and deepen gender inequalities.”
An analysis of the estimates on regional profiles showed that the highest percentage of women outside the labour force citing care responsibilities as the reason is in Northern Africa (63 per cent of women outside the labour force), followed by the Arab States (59 per cent).
In Asia and the Pacific, the figure is 52 per cent with little variation in the subregions. In the Americas, the variation is stark, with 47 per cent citing care as the main reason for being outside the labour force in Latin America and the Caribbean, compared to just 19 per cent in Northern America. In Europe and Central Asia, 21 per cent of women report caregiving as the main barrier, with Eastern Europe having the lowest rate globally (11 per cent).
In his remarks, ILO Chief Statistician and Director of the Department of Statistics, Rafael Diez de Medina, clarified: “These new ILO data expose important inequalities in the world of work due to unequal care responsibilities and highlight the power of data to improve our understanding of the care economy. The ILO has made decent work in the care economy a top priority and is working towards new statistical standards to improve care work data.”
In light of such systemic gender-based inequalities, the ILO’s membership adopted the landmark Resolution concerning decent work and the care economy at the ILO’s International Labour Conference in June 2024. The Resolution is the first global tripartite agreement on the issue, paving the way for countries to tackle the challenges and harness the opportunities presented by the care economy.
It states that “a well-functioning care economy not only supports individuals and families, but also contributes to a healthier workforce, creates jobs and enhances productivity.”
The resolution also highlights the “structural barriers” that unpaid care work creates for women in their participation, retention, and progression in the labour force.
Speaking on the report’s findings, the ILO Director-General, Felix Houngbo, explained: “The way care is currently organized tends to reinforce the gender and social inequalities we are striving to overcome. The ILO Resolution on Decent Work and the Care Economy calls for policies and systems that counter inequalities in terms of who receives and provides care, addresses the barriers preventing many women from entering, remaining and progressing in paid work, and improves the conditions of all care workers and, by extension, the quality of care.”
The most recent previous estimate, from 2018, found that 606 million women and 41 million men (a total of 647 million people worldwide) were not participating in the labour force due to care responsibilities. Although the new estimates are not comparable due to methodology changes, they confirm that care responsibilities continue to be the main reason women are not looking or not available for employment.
ILO data showed that since 2018 many countries had made progress in promoting the participation of women carers by increasing investments in early childhood care and education. However, in a world being reshaped by demographic shifts, with ageing populations, and climate change, which intensifies unpaid care work, the demand for care services is likely to increase.
The recent labour organisation’s resolution underlines the importance of adequate investment in care policies and that it will be essential if the global leaders are to tackle growing inequality and move towards greater social justice.
