Women's unpaid work worth £100 trillion

The economic value of women's unpaid domestic and care work amounts to at least USD 10.8 trillion, or about SEK 100 trillion per year. This is three times more than the global tech industry. This is according to a report released today at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Women's unpaid work subsidizes the rest of the economy and the concentration of wealth.

Jed Regala/Oxfam

Women spend 12.5 billion hours on unpaid domestic and care work every day. This prevents governments and businesses from investing more in public services such as health and education. To reduce inequality and gender inequality, governments need to focus on fair taxation and invest more in the public sector and infrastructure," said Johan Pettersson, Secretary General of Oxfam Sweden.

Women account for over three quarters of all unpaid care work. The burden forces many of them to work less in their paid jobs or stop working for pay altogether. More than 42% of women outside the labor market say they are unable to work for pay because of care work in their household, compared to only 6% of men.

Oxfam's 'Time to Care' report shows how our global economic system prevents economic and gender equality - a system that allows a wealthy elite to amass vast fortunes at the expense of ordinary people and especially poor women and girls.

The report shows that:

• Women and girls spend 12.5 billion hours on unpaid care work, such as caring for children and the elderly, cooking and doing household chores, every day - work with an economic value of at least $10.8 trillion a year, more than three times that of the global tech industry.
• If the richest one percent paid half a percent more tax on their wealth over the next ten years, it would pay for 117 million jobs in the welfare sector.
• The 22 richest men in the world own more than all the women in Africa combined.

The world's 2153 dollar billionaires own more than the 4.6 billion people who make up 60% of the world's population.

The pressure on care workers, both paid and unpaid, is expected to increase over the next decade as the global population grows and ages. An estimated 2.3 billion people will be in need of care by 2030 - an increase of 200 million people since 2015. The climate crisis may exacerbate the health crisis - by 2025, 2.4 billion people will live in areas without sufficient access to water, resulting in many women and girls having to walk further to fetch it.

Oxfam's report shows that governments are taxing the richest individuals and companies too low, missing out on revenue that could help ease women's care responsibilities and tackle poverty and inequality.

Governments underfund important public services and infrastructure that can help reduce the workload of women and girls. For example, investments in water and sanitation, electricity, childcare and healthcare can free up women's time and improve their quality of life. For example, women in parts of Zimbabwe would save up to four hours a day if they had better access to water.

Governments must act to end the inequality crisis. Fair taxes and investments in welfare are key to reducing the economic inequality that affects women in poverty.