Invisible Yet Indispensable: Why the World Runs on Women’s Unpaid Care Work

Every day, women around the world do 16 billion hours of unpaid care work. This type of work, whether it is cooking, cleaning, looking after children or the elderly, is critical to communities and their economies functioning. However, this type of work is often overlooked in terms of the value it’s given or in statistics, and in GDP. If counted, unpaid work could exceed 40 per cent of GDP in some countries. Women do more than half of the world’s work, and nearly half of that goes unpaid, despite its demanding nature. Unpaid care work is the backbone of societies and economies, yet it remains invisible, uncounted, and unequally shared.

Behind every meal cooked or child cared for is time, skill, and physical effort. While this work keeps households and communities running, it also limits women’s opportunities to study, rest, and earn income. When unpaid care goes unrecognized, it reinforces economic inequality and hides the true value of women’s labour.

The Inequality Behind Care

Across the world, women take on far more unpaid work than men. On average, they spend 2.5 times more hours each day on care and domestic tasks. Girls begin this pattern from childhood, providing 160 million more hours daily than boys. This effect ripples through generations, where 45 per cent of working-age women are outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities, compared with only 5 per cent of men. Many women in paid care jobs, such as nannies, and domestic workers, face low wages and few protections, despite the necessity of their work.

Care Work Is Smart Economics

Recognizing and investing in care is one of the smartest economic choices a country can make. Studies show that investments in the care economy could create nearly 300 million jobs by 2035, generating more growth than traditional sectors and with fewer emissions.

When care is supported through mechanisms such as childcare services, parental leave, and fair pay, women can participate fully in the workforce, families thrive, and communities become more resilient.
UN Women calls for a “care revolution” built on six principles:

1. Recognize care work as essential and skilled.
2. Reduce time-intensive tasks with better infrastructure.
3. Redistribute responsibilities more fairly between women and men, households and the state.
4. Reward paid care workers with fair wages and protections.
5. Represent caregivers in policymaking and social dialogue.
6. Resource care systems through sustainable public investment.

Unpaid care work might be invisible in statistics, but it is everywhere in our lives. When societies value, support, and share care more equally, they unlock opportunity for all and build economies that truly care for people.

Read the full article by UN Women here.