Women’s workIt still amazes me that, in 2024, there are still some people who speak of “women’s work.” Not in the simple sense of work that women just so happen to do, but as work that supposedly, by its very nature, is work that women are best suited to do – and where the idea of ‘best suited’ quickly morphs into one where women have the obligation to do such work. For instance, closing the gender gaps in employment could boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by 20 percent across all regions. The primary cause of women being held back from full economic equality and empowerment lies in the continued prevalence of the idea of “women’s work,” of the stubborn persistence of gender-based division of labor. On average, women spend around three times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men. It is estimated that closing existing gaps in care services and expanding decent work programmes would create almost 300 million jobs by 2035.”In 2024, it is time to stop partitioning work, and time to get to work – the essential work of improving the lives of women, to improve the lives of all.
