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By Jane Kato-Wallace<\/strong><\/em> The unpaid care work divide represents an enduring aspect of gender inequality where men are expected to be the breadwinners while women are responsible for care and domestic work. One of the reasons is because unpaid care work remains stubbornly undervalued and under-recognized. What do we mean by \u201cunpaid care work\u201d? According to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, it consists of:<\/p>\n \u201cDomestic work (meal preparation, cleaning, washing clothes, water and fuel collection) and direct care of persons (including children, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as able-bodied adults) carried out in homes and communities, with no financial payment.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>1<\/sup><\/p>\n The unequal distribution of care work is problematic in that it deeply impacts the lives of women and girls. For girls, the unpaid care burden perpetuates reduced access to social contact, play, education, and financial resources,2<\/sup>\u00a0and research shows that women\u2019s household responsibilities and duties have a significant effect on their ability to work outside the home, rest, and engage in leisurely activities. The World Bank has also found that in both low-income and upper-income settings while the gap between the time women and men spend on paid work has reduced, the gap between the time spent on<\/i> unpaid care work has not reduced nearly as much<\/i>.3<\/sup>\u00a0Even then, women who manage to enter or re-enter the workforce find that they are more likely than men to have lower-paid jobs and part-time jobs, more likely to work in the informal sector, and to earn less than men do.4<\/sup><\/p>\n Why does the unpaid care divide exist today despite the fact that global discussions on women\u2019s domestic roles date back to the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo? Well, in part, social norms are \u201csticky,\u201d according to Gary Barker, Equimundo<\/a>\u2019s Founder and CEO. He states that decades of changes in laws, policies, and practice aiming to protect and empower women and girls have \u201cdisturbed men\u2019s sense of entitlement, power and privilege.\u201d5<\/sup>\u00a0Such opposition highlights the need to challenge the social norms and institutions that sustain gender inequality. Indeed, Oxfam\u2019s WE-CARE<\/a> research finds that gendered social norms \u2013 among other factors \u2013 that view women\u2019s roles in the home as \u201cnatural\u201d or \u201cbiological\u201d sustain the caregiving divide.6<\/sup><\/p>\n That men and boys should carry out more care work may seem obvious to the hundreds of millions of women and girls around the world. What is seldom discussed is how to create the conditions necessary for men and boys to part of a global effort to value care work, regardless of who carries it out. Promising findings combined with over a decade of evidence on good practice finds that men can, do and want to change. For example, a pilot study implemented in Rwanda by Equimundo and CARE Rwanda<\/a> called Journeys of Transformation<\/a> that aimed to engage men as allies in women\u2019s economic empowerment (WEE) shows promise that it is possible to shift men\u2019s gender inequitable norms and practices related to caregiving while also increasing overall family income.7<\/sup><\/p>\n Watch the short film to see how the Global Mencare Campaign<\/a>, co-coordinated by Equimundo and Sonke Gender Justice helped changed one man\u2019s attitudes to WEE.<\/p>\n
\nOriginally posted on\u00a0Oxfam<\/a><\/em><\/p>\nFertile ground to shift men\u2019s attitudes<\/h3>\n