04.06.18
UN Geneva / International Labour Conference - MMM oral intervention commends the International Labour's Organisation's Women at Work Initiative and its new "push for equality". It also reaffirms the urgent need to address the issue of unpaid family care work, and provides policy recommendations cutting across multiple sectors.
The objective of the statement that MMM delivered on the 4th June in plenary sitting was to participate in the discussion around the report, The Women at Work initiative: The push for equality, that the ILO Director-General presented at the International Labour Conference
MMM welcomes the clear acknowledgment in the report of the “time-money-agency conundrum” – which most women face, as a key issue that must be addressed as the main structural obstacle to further progress on gender equality.
Central to this conundrum is the issue of unpaid family care work – that is the inequitable distribution between men and women of the unpaid domestic and care work performed in the home. This work is not only essential to reproducing and sustaining families: in fact, it supports the economy and society as a whole. Globally women still do 2 ½ times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. And when paid and unpaid work is combined, on average women work longer hours than men – especially when they are mothers.
Yet, instead of being recognized and valued for combining these care and professional responsibilities, women continue to be penalized. Mothers especially encounter systematic discriminations and obstacles in hiring and promotion, and suffer wage discrimination linked to motherhood (the “motherhood penalty”).
Addressing these issues goes well beyond the labour sector alone and requires a multi-sectoral approach, also involving education, health, social welfare and fiscal sectors. It requires a paradigm shift: (1) putting care, education, and the well-being of people at the centre of government priorities and policies; and (2) taking a long-term perspective and investing for the future.
The International Labour Conference is organized annually by the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Its 107th edition took place from 28 May to 8 June 2018 in Geneva.
See also on MMM website:
05.02.23
UN New York, CSocD61 - The virtual event we are organizing as part of the 2023 UN Commission on Social Development will draw attention to the specificity of the situation
14.04.23
Make Mothers Matter, together with the city of Ypres, and its grass roots partners Mothers for Peace, Mama Kivu and the Vrouwenraad, is organizing an international peace Conference Women at
14.12.22
Despite the growing number of families headed by a single parent, single parents remain one of the most vulnerable groups when it comes to poverty, housing and energy deficits, and
12.10.23
As part of the LP4Y Youth Inclusion International Forum, which will take place on 18-19 October 2023 in New York/Brooklyn, Make Mothers Matter is organizing a session entitled Make Young Mothers Count, whose ma
11.10.23
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - Entitled ‘Centrality of care and support from a human rights perspective’, this landmark resolution was presented by the governments of Argentina, Iceland, Mexico and Spain
22.09.23
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - MMM supports the OHCHR's views and recommendations on the Rights of the child and inclusive social protection presented to the Council. Our oral statement stresses in particula
21.09.23
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - As OHCHR seeks to reinforce its work on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, MMM highlights the centrality of Care to the realisation of these rights, in particular the unpaid
30.06.23
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - According to the UN special Rapporteur on poverty, a job guarantee could help solve the paradox of having an insufficient number of jobs on the one hand, and un-met societal ne
30.06.23
UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - Speaking at the annual full day on women's rights, MMM once again drew attention to mothers' disproportionate share of unpaid domestic and care work, as well as the resulting s