Topic: 2024-Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Ananya Arulmurugan
Unpaid care and Domestic work have been a prevalent issue worldwide for a while, and though some improvements have been made worldwide, even the most progressive countries still have advancements to be made. Unpaid care is defined as providing care or performing domestic tasks without compensation. It includes childcare, elderly care, domestic tasks, and more. Women do a disproportionate amount of unpaid care, a serious topic that must be addressed in the United Nations. If women made minimum wage for the hours of unpaid care they put in, the sum would add up to $10.8 trillion per year internationally. Women perform 72.6% of unpaid work, and the United Nations aims to reduce that gap. Combatting this gap is a complex, multifaceted issue that must be addressed with a variety of solutions addressing societal norms, education, and care.
The issue of unpaid care is vast in South Africa, though some actions have been taken to address it. In South Africa, as in many other countries, women bear the bulk of unpaid care work, including childcare, eldercare, cooking, cleaning, and other household chores. The heavy burden of unpaid care work limits women’s ability to participate fully in the formal economy. This contributes to South Africa’s extremely high levels of gender-based poverty. Actions that have been taken to address this topic include the NPGE, which acknowledges the role of unpaid care in achieving gender equality. South Africa has also implemented various social transfer programs that aid this progress, such as child support, elderly support, and disability grants. These all improve caretakers’ situations and help alleviate their problems. Another pivotal instrument in progressing women’s rights is the presence of gender equality campaigns. Changing gender norms and cultural mindsets is vital to take the next step.
As this is such a vast issue affecting a multitude of countries, South Africa believes it is imperative to create a complex solution that addresses the need of all member states. For this to work, it is especially crucial to put developing countries at the forefront of all discourse on this topic. Women in developing countries face a disproportionate amount of gender-based discrimination and obligation to do unpaid care, so it is necessary to put their voices at the head of the conversation. South Africa cautions against falling into the trap of prioritizing well-funded, developed countries, as their need for a solution is significantly lower. A well-balanced mix of gender equality campaigns to address deep rooted cultural norms, education to increase women’s prevalence in the workforce, and social welfare programs to help reduce the burden on domestic care workers.
