Unpaid care work

In general, women do far more unpaid care work than men. The burden of this work affects all women to some extent, but the disparity is greater and the consequences are most serious for women in poverty.

Girls and women spend many hours fetching water, collecting firewood, doing laundry, preparing food, caring for children and elderly relatives, and doing other household chores, often as well as working on farms.

This work limits rural women’s opportunities to make their farms more sustainable and more productive, to access markets, to know how to claim their rights, and to participate in decision making. Unpaid care work is recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals but often not at community or national government levels.