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, […]
The Women’s Economic Empowerment and Care: Evidence for Influencing (WE-Care) program, launched by Oxfam in 2014, set out to confront one of the most persistent and invisible barriers to gender equality: Unpaid Care and Domestic Work (UCDW). Over nearly a decade, the program sought to recognize, reduce, and redistribute the burden of care work that […]
The eradication of poverty and injustice depends on women’s equal enjoyment of their human rights. Oxfam has invested significantly in women’s economic leadership, and affirms that economic empowerment requires parallel progress in women’s political, social and personal empowerment. Women’s control over their own time and labour is increasingly recognized as a precondition for this, as […]
In the UK and globally, in-home domestic childcare and adult care services are increasingly being provided via digital platforms, with significant implications for in-home/domestic care workers.This paper maps what we already know about this phenomenon and identifies knowledge gaps that could be filled through focused research in support of influencing initiatives aimed at improving rights […]
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 […]
Across the UK, many people providing paid and unpaid care – including parents and guardians of children, paid care workers, and unpaid carers – experience poverty, and great physical and emotional pressures. This is because the care they provide remains largely taken for granted and is not properly supported by governments and wider society. In […]
