Topic:
Country: Ireland
Delegate Name: Ava Gailits
Country: Ireland
Committee: UN Women
Topic: Unpaid Care and Domestic Work
Delegate: Ava Gailitis
School: Williamston High School
Unpaid care and domestic work is an issue that has been plaguing women for decades. Domestic work and household chores are often seen as women’s stereotypical roles in society and the household. Women are known to spend more time caring for their children and the elderly on top of the responsibility of household chores and providing. Depending on how early they are introduced to this, it can hurt their education, leading to fewer opportunities and jobs in the future, contributing to the continuing cycle of unfair gender roles and wage gaps. Along with this, the disproportionate amount of women doing domestic work can lead them to take jobs under their qualifications, creating a larger wage gap between women and men. A study found that on average women make 84% of what men make, meaning they would have to work from January in 2023 to March in 2024 to make what men would in 2023. Many countries also don’t offer paid maternity or paternity leave, leading women to have a harder time balancing work and home life.
Ireland has struggled much with this issue, having the third highest rate of unpaid domestic care in Europe. Ireland is working to decrease this, and has offered some maternity and paternity leave, which studies have shown can have a positive effect on maternal employment, along with free preschool and primary school courses. These allow women to have access to affordable and quality childcare and lessen the amount they have to do around the house. Ireland also supports this issue as an important one that receives a lot of attention in the country, and we are also working on amending article 4.12 of our Constitution, which defines women’s role in the home.
In the future, Ireland believes that it is important to recognize the value of the work women are doing, reduce the amount they have to do, and redistribute it so that the gap between genders is lessened. To start, it is important to acknowledge the valuable work women are doing through cash benefits, such as paid maternity leave. Studies have shown that if they are 12 months or under, they have a positive effect on maternal employment. In addition, it is necessary to reduce the amount of childcare and unpaid work put on women, by providing better free childcare, such as quality publicly funded kindergarten and preschool programs. Another factor in this would be, if needed, better physical infrastructure, such as clean water, health programs, energy, and public transportation. It is also important to try and balance out how unpaid work is distributed between the men and women of a household. Trying to get women more involved in employment may help decrease the amount of time spent on domestic work, as well as provide benefits such as vacation time and a maximum number of working hours. Passing legislation to eliminate pay gaps will also help to even the playing field for working women. Paid paternity leave is important as well, so men can help with childcare and household chores along with their spouses.
Citations:
https://www.esri.ie/news/new-study-shows-significant-weight-of-care-and-unpaid-work-responsibilities#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20significant%20and,same%20amount%20of%20paid%20work
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/irish-spend-over-30-hours-a-week-doing-unpaid-care-housework-1.3951214
https://freepolicybriefs.org/2021/12/20/gender-gap-unpaid-care/
