GENEVA - A new report by the UN Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls warns that global care and support systems are failing women and girls, exacerbating human rights violations and deepening gender inequalities.
Released ahead of the 59th session of the Human Rights Council, the report presents a bold call for urgent public investment and structural reform to recognise, redistribute, and properly reward care and support work.
"Despite care and support work being essential for the health, wellbeing, and sustainability of societies, it remains largely invisible, undervalued, and unprotected," the Working Group said. "Women and girls shoulder 76% of unpaid care responsibilities globally, amounting to 12.5 billion hours of unpaid work each day, worth an estimated $10.8 trillion annually if monetised," the experts said.
The Working Group called for counting the unpaid care into the GDP of states.
"Care and support systems are failing women and girls under demographic pressures, economic inequality, and persistent gender norms," the Working Group said. "Without immediate and transformative action, millions of women and girls will continue to sacrifice their rights, health, education, and economic opportunities to fill this systemic gap."
The report highlights how fragmented and insufficient care and support policies amount to systemic gender discrimination, affecting rights to education, health, employment, political participation, and other human rights of women and girls. From rural women and girls denied healthcare and schooling, to migrant domestic workers facing exploitation and violence, the care crisis is both global and intersectional.
"Particularly alarming is the impact of conflict and climate change," the experts said. "In armed conflict zones such as Gaza and Sudan, the deliberate destruction of care infrastructure, coupled with the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, dramatically increases care and support needs and responsibilities of women and girls."
They noted that climate-induced scarcity of resources also forces women to work longer hours under harsher conditions, further undermining their wellbeing.
The report calls for the creation of gender-responsive, human rights-based care and support systems anchored in the principles of equity, dignity, and sustainability. It urges governments to increase investments in public services, eliminate harmful gender norms, and implement policies to promote shared caregiving responsibilities by engaging men and boys.
The report also calls upon the international community, including financial institutions and corporations to prioritise gender-responsive resource redistribution and recognise care and support related skills in recruitment and employment policies. The Working Group has developed a "CREATE" framework to offer a concrete roadmap for this transformation.
"Care and support are not charity-they are the foundation of human rights, economic development, and ecological sustainability," the experts said. "States must act now to protect both those who provide and those who receive care and support, and to build a future where care and support are shared, supported, and valued."
