28 June 2018: Unpaid care work is one of the main obstacles preventing women from moving to better jobs, according to the ILO report ‘Care work and Care jobs for the future of Decent work’. Care work mainly involves looking after children and elderly persons, the report said, adding that in 2015, 1.1 billion people were in need of care (992 million children under the age of 15, and 110 million older persons). Worldwide by 2030, this number is expected to reach 2.3 billion, driven by an additional 200 million older persons and children.
The report says that women spend 4.1 times more time in Asia and the Pacific in unpaid care work than men. It says that on an average in India women spend 4 hour 57 minutes per day on unpaid care work as against 31 minutes by men.
For India, the Report suggests an increase in expenditure on education, health and social work from 6% of GDP or $116.66 billion in 2015 to 9% or $571.4 billion by 2030 in high road scenario to create jobs.
The report also says that unpaid care work is the main barrier preventing women from getting into, remaining and progressing in the labour force.