ECLAC presents on “Care work and the sustainability of life and the economy” at an International Seminar within the framework of the G20 under the presidency of Brazil

July 9, 2024. Brasilia. Within the framework of the G20 Brazil 2024 meetings, the third meeting of the Women’s Empowerment Working Group (WG) was held under the presidency of Brazil. The WG aims to support countries in addressing gender inequality and promoting women’s empowerment and autonomy in its different dimensions.

In this context, the International Seminar on Care Work and the Sustainability of Life and the Economy was held. ECLAC was invited to participate in the Panel “Focus on Time Use” where it presented conceptual and methodological aspects of the relevance of time use information to advance towards a care society. The panel included the participation of Jordana Cristina de Jesús, Professor of the Department of Demography and Actuarial Sciences of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and Chantelle Stratford, Undersecretary and Gender Specialist, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia. The panel was moderated by Isis Taboas, Cabinet Advisor of the Ministry of Women, Brazil.

On the occasion, Lucía Scuro stressed that the world is facing a series of cascading crises that are exacerbating gender gaps. “In the last three years, social indicators in the region have shown setbacks, putting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals at risk.

The professional presented data from Latin American and Caribbean countries that conduct time-use surveys, which allows for a debate on progress in measuring time-use and unpaid work. Currently, 23 countries in the region have conducted some type of time-use measurement, 10 have an economic valuation of unpaid domestic and care work, and 5 of them have satellite accounts for unpaid domestic and care work in homes. The representative emphasized that “the information collected shows that women spend at least three times more time than men doing unpaid domestic and care work.” “In 16 countries in the Americas, women spend between 22.1 and 42.8 hours per week on unpaid domestic and care work, while men spend between 6.7 and 19.8 hours,” she said.

Another topic that Lucia Scuro addressed during her presentation at the International Seminar was the impact of the sexual division of labour on women’s participation in the labour market and their capacity for economic autonomy. “In most countries, women work a greater number of total hours, but with a lower proportion of paid hours. Of young women (between 15 and 24 years old) who are outside the labour market and outside the educational system, 65% reported doing unpaid care work exclusively, while this proportion is 13% for young people in the same age range. In 8 of the 16 countries with available information, women work more total hours, always with a lower proportion of paid hours than men.”

At the end of the light of the background, Scuro concluded by calling on the attendees: “It is time for transformational changes such as those proposed by the care society, a collective construction with gender and social co-responsibility to close gender gaps and advance towards substantive equality.”

What is the G20?

G20 stands for “Group of Twenty”. The G20 brings together the countries with the largest economies in the world. Member states meet annually to discuss economic, political and social initiatives. The group defines itself as the main forum for international economic cooperation (agreement reached by the leaders at the Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009). Participating countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the African Union and the European Union (EU). In addition, international organizations and invited countries such as Chile participate in the G20.

What is the Women’s Empowerment Working Group?

The Women’s Empowerment Working Group was created during the Indian presidency in 2023 and meets for the first time under the Brazilian presidency in 2024. The WG aims to support countries in addressing gender inequality and promoting women’s empowerment and autonomy in its different dimensions.

About the GT

The institutionalization of a Working Group on this topic represents a great achievement for women and a leap forward in the commitment assumed by member countries to the realization of the rights of women and girls. Thus, during the Brazilian presidency, the following will be central themes:

1. Equality: the topic will be discussed in two axes:
   Equality and Autonomy, in which the sexual division of labor is the basis that perpetuates inequality between men and women by guaranteeing higher jobs and salaries to men and domestic work to women.
   Care Work and Policies addresses the reality of undervalued and unpaid work in the care economy, which, despite being essential for building societies, represents a burden for women around the world.

2. Confronting misogyny and violence: Despite feminist achievements in recent decades, violence against women continues to be at alarming rates. Furthermore, there is a distinction between white, black and indigenous women in terms of different levels of exposure to violence, given that they have unequal power mechanisms to confront it.

3. Climate Justice: Women are the protagonists of territorial actions that seek to stop the worsening of the climate crisis and its consequences on their peoples and territories. Despite this, they are underrepresented in global spaces of power and decision-making on these issues.