We call for multi-stakeholder approach to recognise and support unpaid care work

Our representative in New York, Jacqueline Leduc, took part in the 2nd part of the meeting, on Lessons learned and good practices on promoting care and support systems for social development.

She recalled that unpaid family care work IS work – indispensable work that sustains families, communities, society and the economy – benefitting everyone. At MMM we therefore support a multi-stakeholder approach to national care policies, based on the principle of co-responsibility: in addition to governments, communities and private companies also have a key role to play in recognising, redistributing and supporting unpaid care work.

Highlighting the role of grassroots programmes at the community level, she gave the example of the Mothers Centres promoted by our associate member Mothers centres International Network for Empowerment (MINE). Also key are programmes supporting the involvement of fathers in domestic and care work, like those run by our partners MenCare and ACEV.

She also drew attention to the vital role of the private sector in supporting employees with caregiving responsibilities, in particular mothers, and shouldering its share of the costs involved.

In particular, employers should view motherhood and other caregiving responsibilities as a learning experience that equips those unpaid caregivers with soft skills that include among others: planning and organisation, problem solving, active listening and empathy, crisis or conflict management, negotiating, leadership and decision-making skills… all skills that are very much in demand in the corporate world. Recognising and valuing these skills as part of a broader company’s policy to support employees with caregiving responsibilities, is a practical way of valuing their experience as unpaid caregivers.

She concluded by calling on a new social contract where care is everyone’s responsibility.

Read MMM’s full statement

The ECOSOC meeting on Care and Support Systems, which took place on 19 July, also marked the launch of the first UN System policy brief on Transforming care systems. Co-authored by several UN agencies, including UN Women, the International Labour organisation (ILO), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), this excellent policy brief brings together all the work done by the UN to advance the issue of care. It provides a framework to develop care policies at every level, including definitions, guiding principles, approaches and policy options that can be contextualised to different socioeconomic realities, and can therefore serve as a useful reference.

At MMM we are delighted that the topic of care is now firmly on the UN Agenda. Through our advocacy, we will continue to push for national care policies that recognise and support mothers in their multiple roles, and advance their rights and those of their children.