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Investing in care: Recognising and valuing unpaid caring work

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<div id="toc"><h2>Table of Contents</h2>
<ul>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_investing-in-care-recognising-and-valuing-unpaid-caring-work"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Investing in care: recognising and valuing unpaid caring work</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_the-impact-of-gender-inequalities-in-unpaid-caring-work-at-the-national-level-in-australia"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">The impact of gender inequalities in unpaid caring work at the national level in Australia</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_investing-in-care"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Investing in care</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_recommendations"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Recommendations</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_un-special-rapporteur-on-extreme-poverty-and-human-rightsao-2013-report"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights’ 2013 report</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_references"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_see-also"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">See Also</span></a></li>
<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="#w_external-links"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li>
</ul>
</div><h2 id="w_investing-in-care-recognising-and-valuing-unpaid-caring-work">Investing in care: recognising and valuing unpaid caring work</h2>
<p>This is a comparative international study on strategies for recognising and valuing unpaid caring work. The full report can be found on the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/investing-care-recognising-and-valuing-those-who-care" alt="web site">web site</a>. 
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</p><p>Unpaid care work, predominantly undertaken by women, remains largely un-recognised and under-valued in our communities, our workplaces and our economies. Owing to gender stereotypes related to family and work, such as ‘male breadwinners’, ‘women as carers/nurturers’, this generally means that women assume the bulk of the work.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p4. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</p><p>Unpaid caring work can encumber women’s economic security, through limiting their workforce participation, limiting the accumulation of their retirement incomes and savings, and affecting productivity, economic growth and poverty reduction.
</p><p>The gendered distribution of unpaid care work creates and perpetuates unequal rights enjoyment and gender inequality, and causes human rights violations.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p4. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</p><p>Unpaid care work is essential to families and communities and a valuable part of countries’ social and economic fabric. Meaningful recognition of the importance of unpaid care work to society as a whole, is vital to the well-being and quality of life of those who receive care and those who provide it. Investing in care will also help to generate significant social and economic benefits, including ensuring quality care is accessible, generating greater efficiency and productivity in businesses, improving gender equality and increasing the workforce participation and financial security of unpaid carers.
</p>
<h2 id="w_the-impact-of-gender-inequalities-in-unpaid-caring-work-at-the-national-level-in-australia">The impact of gender inequalities in unpaid caring work at the national level in Australia</h2>
<p>There are nearly 5.5 million unpaid carers between the ages of 15 to 64 years in Australia.<ref>Australian Bureau of Statistics, Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia 2009, Basic CURF, Version 3, CD-Rom (2009). Findings based on SPRC’s analysis of ABS CURF data.</ref> They can be divided into two main groups - parents (who include biological, step, adoptive, or foster parents, and grandparents or guardians with caring responsibilities for a dependent child); and carers (who include people caring for a family member or friend with disability, chronic illness or frailty due to older age). 
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</p><p>In Australia, it is more common for women to provide care in all age groups between the ages of 18-74. Women are also more likely than men to have care responsibilities involving greater time and intensity. In the 15-64 years age group 72.5 per cent of primary carers were women.<ref>Australian Bureau of Statistics, Caring in the Community, Australia, Catalogue no. 4436.0 (2012), p 21, Table 8. At http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4436.02009?OpenDocument (viewed 14 September 2012).</ref> Australian data shows that around three-quarters of employed mothers of infants and pre-schoolers and just over half the employed mothers of adolescents work part-time compared to less than 7 per cent of employed fathers.<ref>L Strazdins, N Lucas, M Shipley, R Matthews, H Berry, B Rogers and A Davis, Parents and child wellbeing and the influence of work and family arrangements: A three cohort study, Social Policy Research Paper No 44. (2011), p 54. At: http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/sprp_44.pdf (viewed 18 September 2012).</ref> As women undertake the largest share of unpaid caring work, the undervaluing of unpaid caring work has had the greatest impact in economic terms on women’s retirement income and savings and economic security. 
</p><p>Average (mean) superannuation payouts for women are just over half (57%) those of men.<ref>R Clare, Developments in the level and distribution of retirement savings (2011), p 10.</ref> While this gender gap is also the result of gender inequalities over a lifetime, a significant contributor to the gap is reduced workforce participation due to unpaid caring work. Women who are unpaid carers have considerably lower rates of employment and are more likely to work in part-time and casual jobs. Less than 23 per cent of female primary carers were in full-time employment at any point across the age groups.<ref>Australian Bureau of Statistics, Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC); Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (from 2006 onwards).</ref>
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</p><p>The value of child care provided by parents is substantial. Furthermore, the amount of unpaid care for people with disabilities is estimated to be 1.32 billion hours each year. This was valued at $40.9 billion per annum in 2010, if unpaid care were to be replaced by paid care providers and provided in the home.<ref>Access Economics The economic value of informal care in 2010 (2010), p i. At http://carersaustralia.com.au/storage/Economic-Value-Informal-Care-Oct-2010.pdf (viewed 12 September 2012). Using a broader definition of ‘unpaid care’ that encompasses domestic work, child care and voluntary work and care, recent imputed estimates by Hoenig and Page suggest that in Australia in 2009-10, the amount of unpaid care work undertaken was around 21.4 billion hours, (or 11.1 million full-time jobs), amounting to a value of $650.1 billion by the replacement cost method or the equivalent of 50.6 per cent of GDP, and that women aged between 25-64 years contributed 60 per cent of this unpaid care work. SA Hoenig and ARE Page, Counting on Care Work in Australia. Report prepared by AECgroup Limited for economic Security4Women (2012), p iii. At http://www.security4women.org.au/projects/the-australian-care-economy (viewed 10 December 2012).</ref>
</p>
<h2 id="w_investing-in-care">Investing in care</h2>
<p>Investing in care can generate significant social and economic benefits, including:
</p>
<ul><li>ensuring quality care is accessible and available and ensuring the well-being of those who are cared for;
</li><li>improving gender equality through the better sharing of caring responsibilities and workforce participation;
</li><li>improving women’s workforce participation and better utilising investment in human capital;
</li><li>contributing to women’s greater financial security and greater productivity in the market sphere; and
</li><li>generating greater efficiency and productivity in businesses. 
</li></ul>
<p>In 2013, the [Pagelink infos="Gender Equality in Australian Human Rights Commission"] issued its research, <a href="http://www.humanrights.gov.au/investing-care-recognising-and-valuing-those-who-care" alt="<i>Investing in care: Recognising and valuing those who care</i>"><i>Investing in care: Recognising and valuing those who care</i></a>.<ref>Australian Human Rights Commission, Investing in care; Recognising and valuing those who care, (2013). At http://www.humanrights.gov.au/investing-care-recognising-and-valuing-those-who-care (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref> The research examined models and mechanisms used to valued unpaid care in 24 countries. Based on the research the report identified a number of potential reform options for recognising and valuing unpaid caring work including: 
</p>
<ul><li>Strengthening legislation to recognise discrimination based on family responsibilities including caring.
</li><li>Introducing mechanisms like carer assessments to determine a carer’s support needs and carer cards for accessing services and entitlements which would allow unpaid carers to participate in society on a more equal footing.
</li><li>Ensuring that unpaid carers have the right to request flexible work arrangements and that employers are obligated to reasonably accommodate their requests.
</li><li>Ensuring that income support reflects the variable costs of providing care and does not penalise unpaid carers for engaging in education and training or participating in the workforce.
</li><li>Expanding and strengthening leave provisions for all unpaid carers to ensure that they can maintain their attachment to the workforce while also undertaking their care responsibilities.
</li><li>Properly resourcing and coordinating services for unpaid carers across jurisdictions and care sectors to ensure that unpaid carers and those they care for receive the benefits of these services. 
</li><li>Introducing workplace initiatives and changes to workplace culture to support unpaid carers undertake their work and care responsibilities.
</li><li>Reforming the current system of retirement income and savings, including the age pension and superannuation that is tied to paid work, to account for the inequity of retirement incomes and savings that leaves many women in poverty in older age, especially women who are or have been unpaid carers.
</li></ul>
<p>This report provides a strong evidence base for considering what reform options could be undertaken to create a social and economic policy framework that facilitates genuine choices for men and women to combine unpaid care and paid work.
</p><p>Cultural change in our society and our workplaces is a crucial element of valuing unpaid care. Such change needs to start with identifying and challenging gender stereotypes and social norms related to unpaid care responsibilities and participation in paid work by men and women across the lifecourse. It is important that a public debate about unpaid care asks what stops men from taking on more responsibility for unpaid care, and challenges the model of the ‘ideal worker’ who is unencumbered by any caring responsibilities.
</p>
<h2 id="w_recommendations">Recommendations</h2>
<p>To properly recognise and value unpaid caring work:
</p>
<ul><li>Prohibit discrimination on the ground of family responsibilities and carer responsibilities in anti-discrimination legislation.
</li><li>Create options for legally enforceable obligations to a carer assessment,
</li><li>Include mechanisms in parental leave schemes that encourage the equal take-up of parental leave in couples (eg. time-bonus of two weeks additional payment ))
</li><li>Consider option to provide employees with a legislated right to a job-protected unpaid employment break of up to 12 months, across the lifecourse, to provide care for a person with disability or illness or frailty due to age or for palliative care.
</li><li>Provide care services and supports that take into account the needs of working women and men, including accessible, affordable, flexible, quality early childhood education and care.
</li><li>Employers should consider implementing mechanisms to support unpaid carers in the workplace.
</li><li>Consider option to establish a system of ‘carer credits’ ie direct credits to the superannuation accounts of individuals with parental care responsibilities and carer responsibilities.
</li><li>Collect regular gender and age dis-aggregated data on unpaid caring work, specifically through time-use surveys.
</li><li>Include unpaid care work and its gendered impact in the goals, indicators and targets developed for the post-2015 development agenda.
</li></ul>
<h2 id="w_un-special-rapporteur-on-extreme-poverty-and-human-rightsao-2013-report">UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights’ 2013 report</h2>
<p>The UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights’ 2013 report to the General Assembly, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, noted:<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
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<ul><li>States must take all appropriate measures to ensure that care responsibilities are equally shared by men and women.<ref> UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p7. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</li><li>States must ensure that women’s unpaid care responsibilities are not a barrier to their participation in public and political life on an equal basis with men, at the national, regional and local levels.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p15. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</li><li>Lack of timely, reliable and comparable sex-disaggregated data on women’s unpaid care work is a major obstacle to evidence-based gender sensitive policymaking, leading to negative outcomes for those who perform significant amounts of unpaid work. States should therefore conduct regular time-use surveys, with a view to recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p19. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</li><li>States must ensure that a consideration of care work, and its gendered distribution and impact, is systematically integrated into policies across all relevant sectors, including macroeconomic policies, development planning and programming, and the post-2015 development agenda. Any goals, indicators and targets adopted should reflect an awareness of the intensity and distribution of unpaid care work and its impact on women’s human rights and opportunities for human development.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p20-21. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</li></ul>
<p>The Special Rapporteur also urged national human rights institutions to include the issue of unpaid care work in their research, policy, advocacy and programming work and to apply a human rights and gender equality perspective to this work. In addition, she encourages them to raise the issue with human rights mechanisms and bodies, including the universal periodic review, human rights treaty bodies, and the Commission on the Status of Women, including when country reports are reviewed.<ref>UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Unpaid care work and women's human rights, (2013) UN Doc A/68/293, p24. At http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
</p><p>The Agreed Conclusions from the UN Commission on Status of Women have similarly identified measures for States parties to undertake to properly recognise and value unpaid caring work, with the aim of removing the gender inequities. See: Agreed Conclusions of the 53rd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women<ref>N Commission on the Status of Women, Report of the fifty-third session (2-13 March 2009) (2009), UN Doc, E/2009/27; E/CN.6/2009/15. At: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/53sess.htm (viewed 26 February 2014)</ref> and the Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Structural and Policy Constraints in Achieving the MDGs for Women and Girls for CSW 58 noted.<ref>UN Commission on the Status of Women, 58th session, Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Structural and Policy Constraints in Achieving the MDGs for Women and Girls (2013) UN Doc. EGM/MDG/2013/Report, p33. At http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw58-2014/preparations (viewed 26 February 2014).</ref>
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<h2 id="w_references">References</h2>
<p><references/>
</p>
<h2 id="w_see-also">See Also</h2>
<ul><li>[Pagelink infos="Online Discussion: Unpaid care in the post-2015 agenda"] (20-24 October 2014)
</li></ul>
<p><br />
</p>
<h2 id="w_external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li>Australian Human Rights Commission, Investing in care: Recognising and valuing those who care (https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/investing-care-recognising-and-valuing-those-who-care)
</li><li>UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Report to the General Assembly on unpaid care work and women's human rights (UN Doc A/68/293) (http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N13/422/71/PDF/N1342271.pdf?OpenElement )
</li></ul>
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