AMMAN: Around the world this morning, millions of women are on their way to work. Globally, we know that most women prefer to be in paid employment, and that most men agree. The empowerment of women in the workplace is to be celebrated, but it is not without its challenges. Both women and men acknowledge that a lack of work-family balance and access to care, including childcare, care of the disabled and the elderly and housekeeping are major obstacles facing women at work.
National development plans in our region have generally overlooked the care economy as a productive economic sector. However, shifting dynamics in the Arab states demand change. Governments in our region need to focus more on care work, both as an area of employment growth as well as a means of supporting women’s equal opportunities in the world of work. Here is why, throughout the course of our lives, each and every one of us will rely on the care of others. Care workers support the care of children and youth during critical stages of development and help the elderly and persons with disabilities to live with dignity.
Those who can afford it employ care workers, who relieve women in the household from undertaking this “second shift”. In our region, there is a preference for home-based care, predominately delivered by migrant workers.
The growing demand for care work will continue to create a large number of jobs in the coming years. The sector comprises a variety of skilled professions in childcare, early childhood education, disability, long-term care, elder care as well as domestic work, hence opening up many opportunities for Arab women to fill these positions. This would fall in line with targets for increasing female labour force participation rates, which currently stand at global low of 21.2 per cent.
Evidence from other regions demonstrates that a strong care economy boosts women’s participation in the labour force. Member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for example, have set access to affordable and quality childcare, support for elder care, paid parental leave and family-friendly work opportunities and conditions as policy priorities in order to increase women’s labour force participation rates. Since 2012, female employment rates have increased by almost two percentage points on average across OECD countries.
To build a care sector that benefits care workers, care recipients and society overall, Arab governments should take crucial steps regarding the nature and provision of care policies and services, and the terms and conditions of care work.
