Paid and unpaid care work is essential to our economy and society, covering activities such as childcare, elder care, and support for individuals with disabilities or illnesses. These efforts are vital for human well-being and form the foundation for all other work. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted our reliance on care work and its supporting infrastructures, […]
Drawing on six case studies (Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, the United States, and Zimbabwe), this paper explores the definitions, debates, and demands related to the concept of care infrastructure. The paper finds the following components of care infrastructure across the case studies: care-supporting physical infrastructure, knowledge production, community networks, national care frameworks and public […]
Unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) is performed around the world disproportionately by women and girls. Oxfam is committed to alleviating this burden of unpaid care and domestic work and to elevating the discourse on the value of UCDW’s contribution to society. As part of its continuing efforts to contribute to enhanced public policy around […]
Oxfam America and Prosperity Now have embarked on a comprehensive joint research project to explore the dynamics of women’s paid and unpaid labor in the US, particularly for women of color, who are disproportionately affected by the dual impact of paid work and unpaid care responsibilities. This report adopts an intersectional lens to delve into […]
This research study across three countries – Kenya, UK, and Zimbabwe – was carried out to identify the dominant narratives that influence public perceptions of care and informal work. It enabled the researchers to develop and test new narratives that could be used to improve public attitudes towards care and informal work. Creating new stories […]
The US Care Policy Scorecard seeks to assess the US care policy environment at the federal level by adapting and implementing the Care Policy Scorecard Framework and Tool in the US context. The US Scorecard looks at 30 federal policy indicators related to both unpaid care and underpaid care work (UUCW). Each policy indicator is measured by […]
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the dependence of our societies on systems of care and caregiving to survive and thrive. This support system, however, has been mostly unpaid if not totally unrecognized for far too long. Its resulting negative effects have disproportionately affected women and girls around the world, especially in the Global South. […]
The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly added to the load of unpaid care work. As more were forced to stay home, the need for home care and chores multiplied globally. It has been found that women in the household shouldered the burden of disproportionate care work. Care work, in definition, is an occupation that gives opportunities […]
The global care crisis is being exacerbated by the global climate emergency, with interlocking impacts that threaten lives and livelihoods in all parts of the world. These impacts are particularly severe among rural livelihoods in low-income countries. Climate change intensifies the work involved in caring for people, animals, plants, and places. It reduces the availability […]
This paper describes the approach to measuring social norms related to unpaid care work in Oxfam’s Household Care Survey (HCS), and discusses benefits and limitations of this approach. The HCS is a quantitative research tool developed through Oxfam’s Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care (WE-Care) programme. It measures adults’ and children’s time spent on unpaid care work […]
