International Day of Care and Support 2023

The care economy is about people, those who provide care as well as those who need it. Care labour consists of both paid and unpaid work; there are providers in hospitals and support homes, but those who provide support for family and loved ones are also care workers. Care work may be direct, such as care for a patient or a child, and it may be indirect, such as cooking and cleaning. Women perform 76.2% of the total amount of unpaid care work in the world, 3.2 times more than men (Addati et al., 2018, p3).

During the worst of the COVID pandemic, many care workers were our frontline. A significant number lost their lives to care for us while we were ailing. As of October 19th, 55 healthcare workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war (Woods, 2023). And, according to the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, 2022 was an extremely violent year for healthcare workers. In their annual report, it was shown that 232 health workers were killed, 298 were kidnapped, and 294 were arrested. Care workers were not only killed when healthcare facilities were attacked; some were kidnapped and tortured to death (SHCC, 2023, p7-9). When our planet is hurting, we turn to our care workers for succor and solace, yet we sometimes forget the danger they place themselves in to provide that care.

However, it is about more than the safety and well-being of healthcare workers during pandemics or in conflict areas. The global care workforce, including those involved in education, health and social work, comprises 249 million women and 132 million men (Addati et al., 2018, p12). All around the world, women spend 2.8 more hours than men on unpaid care and domestic work (UN Women, 2023, p14), and provide over 75% of the unpaid care work; in no country do men and women share the proportion of unpaid care work equally. When both paid and unpaid care work is accounted for, the average woman works almost an hour longer per day than the average man, and unpaid care work remains one of the main obstacles to women moving into better quality jobs.

October 29th is the International Day of Care and Support, which aims to recognize the many different kinds of care labourers as essential workers. In 2022, just over 30% of people in Canada were involved in care work for children while 23% provided care for care-dependent adults. More than half of women aged 15 or older provided some form of care. Women were also more likely than men to be unpaid dual caregivers, those who provide care to both children and care-dependent adults.

Providing better work conditions for the care economy contributes to meeting so many Sustainable Development Goals. In certain care institutions, barriers to quality care include understaffing, heavy workloads, and insufficient time to provide the appropriate level of care. Better work conditions for care workers would mean the promotion of better health and well-being. Gender equity at work can be reached by recognizing the value of unpaid care labour and offering more public and social supports to care workers. Care providers, and subsequently care recipients, would benefit from strong, inclusive, gender-responsive social and labour policies that acknowledge the importance of the care economy.

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Addati, L., Cattaneo, U., Esquivel, V., & Valarino, I. (2018). Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. International Labour Organisation (ILO).

SHCC. (2023, May 17). IGNORING RED LINES - Violence Against Health Care in Con ict 2022. Insecurity Insight. Retrieved October 27, 2023, from https://insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SHCC-Report-Ignoring-Red-Lines.pdf

Statistics Canada. (2022, November 8). The Daily — More than half of women provide care to children and care-dependent adults in Canada, 2022. Statistique Canada. Retrieved October 27, 2023, from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/221108/dq221108b-eng.htm

UN Women. (2023). The Gender Snapshot 2023 — SDG Indicators. UN Women. Retrieved October 27, 2023, from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/gender-snapshot/2023/GenderSnapshot.pdf

Woods, A. (2023, October 21). Israel-Hamas war: The dead doctors of Gaza. Toronto Star. Retrieved October 27, 2023, from https://www.thestar.com/news/world/the-dead-doctors-of-gaza-at-a-time-when-they-re-most-needed-many-perish/article_341fc98f-11e4-54a6-8630-af104556753c.html