Topic: 2024-Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
Country: Kenya
Delegate Name: Andrew Griffin
Position Paper: Kenya
Committee: United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC): UN Women
Country: Kenya
Topic: Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
I. Topic Background Unpaid care and domestic work is part of the global socioeconomic ecosystem and of Kenya as well. From multiple cultural contexts, domestic work like cooking, cleaning, sanitation, fetching water, and rearing children or taking care of adults is expected of women and girls. While this work is vital for families and their operations and sustainability, it exists as an invisible effort—as women receive less acknowledgment of their time and energy—and is overperformed by females. Families continue to live beneath the poverty line and in socioeconomic inequity, and with no clear acknowledgment or reinstitution of unpaid care work, women remain uneducated and without access to a formal work market, inevitably deepening the gap.
II. Where Kenya fits The Kenyan government understands that women are, in a sense, “paying” for this through unpaid care work, which will have socioeconomic consequences for families and future generations within a community for years to come. For example, in more rural areas where natural resources of water and electricity are not made more accessible through infrastructural developments, women are spending hours out of their day either going to get water and returning or cutting down trees to find firewood. This leaves less time for women to engage in income-generating activities or schooling. Thus, the Kenyan government understands that the ideal has to be met to support SDG 5: Gender Equality. Kenya appears to be improving in certain areas of gender inequality. For example, the 2010 Constitution supports the rights of women and men in equal measures. However, this is only an international acknowledgment as unpaid care work and a national acknowledgment as merely advocated support. Kenya has a crisis that must be addressed with international organizations, national NGOs, and community-level participation. Kenya has implemented initiatives such as the Free Primary Education (FPE) to promote access to education for girls; however, educational initiatives mean nothing if girls cannot get to school due to having to do unpaid care work. Recently, developments in amenities and resources such as clean water access and rural electrification have reduced the average hours spent on domestic labor by women; however, resources. Kenya has engaged in efforts with UN Women to advocate for international gender equality and women’s rights.
III. Proposed Solutions Thus, Kenya’s solution to the problem of unpaid care and domestic work includes three parts: Undistributed Value: National awareness efforts to tell people how much unpaid care work is valued and that in-home responsibilities should be equal. Few women admit they do it for free. Rural Infrastructure Increases: Rural infrastructure increases to reduce chore time, from clean water initiatives to sustainable energy to low-cost daycare centers. Education Relocations: Education scholarships and cash transfers to girls from families with care excesses so they’re not tempted to drop out. Community Programs: Collaborate with relevant agencies to train families on how to share caregiving responsibilities at home. Support family caregiving for the elderly that alleviates pressure on women. Social Policy: Advocate for national social safety policies via paid family leave and caretaker stipend policies that acknowledge and redistribute the unacknowledged unpaid caregiving effort. Kenya is committed to working with UN Women and international partners to implement these solutions, addressing the root causes of unpaid care work and promoting gender equality across all sectors.
Works Cited
International Labour Organization. Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. ILO, 2018.
Oxfam International. Time to Care: Unpaid and Underpaid Care Work and the Global Inequality Crisis. Oxfam, 2020.
United Nations. The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics. United Nations, 2020.
United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Rural Women. The Contribution of Rural Women to Development. UN Women, 2018.
