Oxfam chief: ‘Women do most of the care work around the world, and their vital efforts are not being valued’

It’s also clear that our upside-down global economic system is sexist.

Across the world, women and girls will put in 12.5 billion hours of care work today – and they won’t be paid a penny for it.

This amounts to a contribution to the global economy of at least $10.8 trillion a year – more than three times the size of the global tech industry.

The unpaid care industry is one of the most valuable in the world – it’s the ‘hidden engine’ that keeps the wheels of our economies, businesses and societies moving.

And yet Oxfam’s new Time to Care report illustrates that governments and business are chronically undervaluing care work – which is often treated as non-work, with spending on care viewed as a cost rather than an investment, leading to care being rendered invisible in measures of economic progress and policy agendas.

In Northern Ireland, carers’ support is valued at £4.6 billion a year – but this comes at high personal cost.

In addition to the financial cost of their caring role, carers often face loneliness and social isolation, as well as increased health problems of their own.

Carers NI recently estimated that one in five people in Northern Ireland provide care for a family member or friend, over 58,000 more than the 2011 census records.

And over half of all carers in Northern Ireland are women.

Caring for humanity has always been very one sided – and it’s getting worse.

Globally, care work is usually done by women, who are often left little time to get an education, earn a decent living or have a say in how our societies are run, and are therefore trapped in poverty.

Some 42 per cent of women are outside the paid workforce because of unpaid care responsibilities, compared to just six percent of men.

Countless more are paid poverty wages for care work. And the pressure on carers, both unpaid and paid, is set to increase in the coming decade as the global population grows and ages. An estimated 2.3 billion people will need of care by 2030, an increase of 200 million since 2015.

Oxfam is urging governments to create fairer fiscal systems and crack down on tax loopholes to raise the revenue needed to invest in national care systems and public services that meet everyone’s needs, without relying on unpaid and underpaid work by women.

Getting the richest one per cent to pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth over the next 10 years would equal the investment needed to create 117 million jobs in sectors such as elderly and childcare, education and health.

We’re also calling for a radical rethink of work itself so those who do the most vital jobs in society – like caring for our kids, the elderly and the most vulnerable – aren’t taken for granted.

It’s about changes to social and employment policies that support carers, enabling them to combine caring with employment and encouraging more men to participate in care work, for example, more paid shared parental leave. We also need high-quality care services, resourced by care workers that are paid a living wage.

As Stormont gets back up and running, our new report offers an opportunity to consider a fairer economy that tackles the disproportionate impact unpaid care work has on women at home and around the world.

l Jim Clarken is chief executive of Oxfam Ireland