Care responsibilities are excluding and holding back millions of women worldwide from taking paid employment, and with climate and demographic changes on course to increase the demand for care, measures to support the care economy are urgently needed, according to a new brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
An estimated 708 million women worldwide are outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities, according to new ILO global estimates, released end of October 2024, on the occasion of the International Day of Care and Support.
In 2023, 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. Of these, 708 million were women and 40 million were men.
The new estimates, presented in the ILO Statistical brief The impact of care responsibilities on women’s labour force participation, are derived from data from 125 countries. They indicate that care responsibilities present the main barrier to women entering and staying in the labour force, while men are more likely to cite other personal reasons for being outside the labour force, such as education and health issues.
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.
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