Women perform the majority of unpaid care work while only accounting for 34 percent of paid employment, according to Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) executive director Nalini Singh.
At the World Population Day seminar held at the University of the South Pacific on Thursday, Singh highlighted that the Fiji Country Gender Assessment Report indicated women carried out three-quarters of unpaid care responsibilities for their families.
“Given this context, FWRM has consistently argued that if women are already burdened with unpaid care work at home due to gender roles, creating paid care sector jobs cannot be the sole solution,” Singh said.
“If it is, we need to ensure that we mitigate the vulnerabilities that women may face in the care sector.”
“And how do we advocate for the redistribution of unpaid care work at home?”
Globally, the current discussion focuses on building a resilient care economy as a means to bring older people back into the workforce, she noted.
“When FWRM participates in these discussions, our key advocacy includes ensuring older women are productive despite not having had opportunities during their prime years to age healthily.”
“Therefore, investments targeting older individuals must begin immediately.”
“When you look at care work or the care economy, it predominantly involves women.”