No economic reform or policy should penalize mothers and families

01.03.19

UN Geneva, Human Rights Council - For too long, families have been adjusting to the economy and the labour market. It is time the economy adjusts to families. This was, in essence, the message delivered by MMM at Human Rights Council during the discussion on the Guiding principles on the iHuman Rights impact assessment of economic reforms.

Current economic thinking does not take into account the value of domestic and unpaid family care work and its significant contribution to society. Women, especially when they are mothers, still globally carry out 3⁄4 of this essential work1, which also underpins the whole economy.

We believe it is time to make the unpaid work of caring for children, older persons, and other dependents, visible and taken into account by policymakers, especially when devising economic policy.

This is exactly what target 4 of SDG 5 is all about: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.

And according to McKinsey, it is also smart economics: addressing the issue of unpaid care work is a key step towards women’s full participation in the economy.

We at MMM also call on States to take a long-term perspective – and assess the impact of economic reforms and policy on families. Parents must be able to provide adequate nurturing care and education for their children, crucially during the early formative years. Children have the right to be cared for, nurtured and educated to reach their full development potential. They are after all, the future work force.

Read the full MMM Oral Statement on the need to assess the impact of economic reforms on mothers and families

The oral statement was delivered during the discussion on the Guiding Principles on Human Rights Impact assessments of economic reform policies, which were presented during the 40th Session of the Human Rights Council by the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

 

Most read articles

In this together: Share the Care, Transform Tomorrow

02.07.22

UN New York, HLPF - Join us on July 11th for a discussion on how #SharingTheCare at every level - family, community, governments and private sector - is vital for

Lire plus

Making the case for Gender Equal Parenting: Vital for Early Childhood Development and a transformative tomorrow

04.10.22

At MMM, we believe that sharing the invisible work of caring and educating children more equitably is a quadruple win: essential for early child development (ECD), beneficial for both men

Lire plus

Leave no single mother Behind: solutions from across the world

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

Lire plus
See all the articlesof the category

Latest News from MMM @ the UN

Pathways to a transformative recovery centered on Care

04.05.23

UN New York - Ahead of the upcoming 2023 High Level Political Forum (HLPF), MMM's written statement provides 2 concrete policymaking avenues to address the issue of unpaid care work and accelerate progress on G

Read more

A right to care to foster quality non-formal education

03.05.23

UN New York - Our oral statement to the UN Commission on Population Development calls for for the recognition of the importance of non formal education, which mostly takes place within families. It includes the

Read more

Global support for recognition of ‘Care as a Right’ gains momentum – MMM teams look back at CSW 2023

27.04.23

UN New York - This year’s priority theme of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was ‘Innovation, technological change, education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerme

Read more

268 years to close the economic gender gap? It is time to consider CARE as a human right

14.04.23

Care is at the heart of our advocacy work here at MMM, so we were delighted to have the opportunity to put forward our thoughts in this op-ed featured on the OECD Forum Network website.

Read more

Unpaid care work is not a burden

08.04.23

UN Geneva - In recent years, MMM has strongly advocated for eliminating the use of the word ‘Burden’ in association with unpaid care work. Many people have talked and written about the ‘burden of unpaid c

Read more

Parents key influencers for education

03.04.23

UN New York - With the upcoming 56th UN Commission on Population Development (CPopD56), we are publishing the written statement we submitted ahead of this session, which will focus on Population, education and

Read more