Women are responsible for most of the unpaid care work, while they make up only 34 percent of the paid workforce, according to Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) executive director Nalini Singh. Speaking at the World Population Day seminar held at the University of the South Pacific, Singh noted that the Fiji Country Gender Assessment Report indicated women performed three-quarters of the unpaid care work within families.
“With these contexts in mind, FWRM has always questioned whether creating paid jobs in the care sector is the only alternative, given that women are already overburdened with unpaid care work due to gender roles assigned to them,” Singh said. She emphasized the need to mitigate the vulnerabilities women face when taking up care work and promote the redistribution of unpaid care work at home.
Globally, the conversation is now focused on building a resilient care economy to reintegrate older people into the workforce. “In these discussions, FWRM advocates for providing older women the opportunity and environment to remain productive and invest in their health and well-being starting now,” Singh stated. She highlighted that women are the primary faces of the care economy and work.