Govt. needs to actively address women’s issues stemming from unpaid care: IPS

• Unpaid care and domestic responsibilities aggravate pressure during economic crisis
• SL needs to produce more frequent data on unpaid care work as an initial step 
• Govt. told to make care a priority in economic policy-making and budget setting

 The government needs to actively look into addressing the issues stemming for women from unpaid care work, since it, along with domestic responsibilities, hinders the economic empowerment of women, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) said.

According to the latest State of the Economy report 2022, unpaid care and domestic responsibilities are key barriers for the female population to participate in market activities.
 The two elements aggravate pressure during an economic crisis, and the lack of gender-sensitive infrastructure, policies, and programmes, among others, adds further weight to the burden of women.

The Sri Lanka Time Use Survey by the Census and Statistics Department, for which the latest report was published in 2017, shows that men spend a total of 114 minutes per day on unpaid care work, while women spend 204 minutes per day
on the same.

“Providing affordable and high-quality childcare options is essential not only for employed women but also for females who have the potential to be employed. The availability of affordable childcare would reduce the double burden faced by female employees and encourage potential female workers to enter the labour market,” the think-tank said in its annual flagship report.
In Sri Lanka, 73.5 percent of the total economically inactive population are females. Old age, studies, and housework as cited as the three main reasons for being economically inactive, the IPS pointed out.

To take a step towards addressing the issue that has for too long been neglected or treated as unimportant, the IPS pointed out Sri Lanka needs to produce more frequent data on unpaid care work as an initial step in recognising the issue at hand.

Improving the annual national surveys can be carried out as a short-term measure as it can be done without any
additional resources.

The think-tank also called for the government to make care a priority in economic policy-making and budget setting. Having specific budget lines to support and expand the types of public services or programmes that significantly release unpaid care workload of households could help, the IPS said, pointing out that such long-term strategies can be adopted to make care a national priority.

The State of the Economy report highlighted that ensuring gender equality and empowerment may quickly get sidelined to be neglected entirely in the context where Sri Lanka is experiencing a severe economic meltdown.

“A risk exists of overlooking the importance of ensuring gender equality by policymakers and the public, mainly due to the ongoing resource constraints. Gender equality and empowerment should be treated as a great opportunity and strategy to overcome the current economic crisis,” 
IPS suggested.