Care Work with 300 million jobs + and more

Care at work
Source: © GMB Akash / icddr,b

Greater investment in care could create almost 300 million jobs

Plugging existing, significant, gaps in care services could generate almost 300 million jobs and create a continuum of care that would help to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality, and support care for children and the elderly, says new ILO report released ahead of International Women’s Day.
News | 07 March 2022
© GMB Akash / icddr,b
GENEVA (ILO News) – Persistent and significant gaps in care services and policies have left hundreds of millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support, yet meeting these needs could create almost 300 million jobs by 2035, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report.

The report, Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work , finds that three in ten women of reproductive age, or 649 million women, have inadequate maternity protection that does not meet the key requirements of the ILO’s Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) .

The Convention mandates 14 weeks minimum maternity leave on at least two-thirds of previous earnings, funded by social insurance or public funds. Eighty-two of the 185 countries surveyed for the report did not meet these standards, although “paid maternity leave or maternity protection is a universal human and labour right”, the study says. At the current pace of reform it will take at least 46 years to achieve minimum maternity leave rights in the countries analysed, which means the relevant target of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals will not be met.

More than 1.2 billion men of prime reproductive age live in countries with no entitlement to paternity leave, although it would help to balance the work and family responsibilities of both mothers and fathers, the report says. Where there is paternity leave it remains short – a global average of nine days – creating a large “gender leave gap”. The take-up of paternity leave entitlements is also low; a consequence, the report suggests, of low paternity pay, gender norms and policy design.

The Care at work report offers a global overview of national laws, policies and practices on care, including maternity, paternity, parental, child and long-term care. It highlights how some workers fall outside the scope of these legal protections. These include the self-employed, workers in the informal economy, migrants, and adoptive and LGBTQI+ parents. It also looks at the case for – and potential impact of – greater investment in care.

In only 40 of the countries surveyed did pregnant or nursing women have a right to be protected against dangerous or unhealthy work, in line with ILO standards. Only 53 countries offered a right to paid time off for prenatal medical examinations. Time off, income security and appropriate facilities for breastfeeding were also lacking in many countries.

“We need to re-think the way we provide care policies and services so that they form a continuum of care that provides children with a good start, supports women to stay in employment and prevents families or individuals falling into poverty.”
Manuela Tomei, Director, ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department

The need for long-term care services for older persons and those with disabilities has been rising steeply because of increased life expectancy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic . However, the study finds that access to services such as residential care, community day services and in-home care, remains inaccessible to the great majority of those who need them world-wide, although “long-term care services are essential to ensure the right to healthy ageing in dignity”.

The report finds “a strong investment case” for creating a transformative package of care policies, based on universal access, that would create a breakthrough pathway for building a better and more gender equal world of work. Investment in gender equal leave, universal childcare and long-term care services could generate up to 299 million jobs by 2035, it says. Closing these policy gaps would require an annual investment of US$5.4 trillion (equivalent to 4.2 per cent of total annual GDP) by 2035, some of which could be offset by an increase in tax revenue from the additional earnings and employment.

“We need to re-think the way we provide care policies and services so that they form a continuum of care that provides children with a good start, supports women to stay in employment and prevents families or individuals falling into poverty,” said Manuela Tomei, Director, ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department. “Plugging these care gaps should be seen as an investment that not only supports health and livelihoods but fundamental rights, gender equity and greater representation too.”

Tags: employment creation, women workers, family leave, maternity protection, child care, family responsibilities, social protection, poverty alleviation, care economy, gender equality, womens rights, older persons, women, medical care
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Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work

See also
Publication
Executive summary [pdf 587KB]
Web pages
ILO topic portal on Care Economy
ILO topic portal on Gender Equality
Normative instrument
C183 Maternity Protection Convention, 2000
Media contact

newsroom@ilo.org

Berlin & Ukraine 02_2022


Sunday February 27, 2022, here in Berlin :-) … as far as data are concerned, reality matters, indeed. Figures obviously range from 100.000 to 500.000 thousand people who were there, between Brandenburg Gate and ‘Goldelse’, see
https://taz.de/Protest-gegen-Ukraine-Krieg-in-Berlin/!5834938/


Ukraine’s invasion by the Russian army did not surprise the Syrians. Putin’s air base is mostly to be blamed for killing Syrian civilians, demolishing Syrian sites and cities, and expulsing millions of Syrians. As far as the Russian Army, upon Putin’s order, is currently committing war crime at large in the Ukraine, practices the same Russian army has been practising in Syria, without having to fear major reactions from the West, however. The solidarity with Ukraine’s civil society is hence particularly fundamental among syrians today. they, too, hope for their land to be freed from Russian occupation. Source: DSI Dt-Syrian information forum @dsi.forum (see facebook,
translation German – English: #berlinsights.de)

| Berlinale | News & Themen | News – Forum Expanded: Closer to the Ground

https://www.berlinale.de/de/news-themen/news/detail_119374.html

The 17th Forum Expanded presents CLOSER TO THE GROUND with delightful movie projects in neon lights, or the Zama Zama project by Rosalind Morris and many more among thirteeen (13) art work installations in the ‘cellar’ space at CLOSER-TO-THE-GROUND in Berlin Wedding, Gerichtstr.35, U/S Wedding, worth seeing listening watching and visiting :-) until mid-March, 2022.

Berlinale 2022

https://www.berlinale.de/de/fotos-videos/videos/vod.html?p=1&filter=berlinale_meets&view=130707
… just started Feb 11,22 at “Encounters 2022” with “Queens of the Qing Dynasty” by Ashley McKenzie, born 1984.
The Canadian film maker talks about queerness at places of night shift in situations of exchange between Canada and China, Shanghai and the urge of obtaining a residence status for good. A story between two young women, fascinated by the queens of the Qing dynasty, opposed to societal cohesion and gender-open friendship like ‘Coming-of-Age’ topics distilled in the movie about family, ethnics, gender and creativity: enjoy all! Tickets may be purchased online via a ‘ticket button’ that you find under Berlinale – Programme – Ticket-Info …

WILPF Munich at History Salon in Beginenhof in 10999 Berlin: IFFF shows a film

03-02-22 Geschichtssalon Berlin-2
Heidi Meinzolt, IFFF (WILPF in German), presented a short film entitled “1921 – 2021: 100 Years International Women’s League for Freedom, De-Escalation, Peace Education, Non-Violence, Equality and Participation”. A lively discussion among some 15 participants – thereof one male – confirmed the WILPF concept for ongoing peace efforts worldwide. #berlinsights owner Susanne Bauer thanks Gisela Notz for the great initiative.

bum.berlin February 2022


Walking along bUm (www.bum.berlin) downtown Berlin Kreuzberg at Landwehr canal, berlinsights takes a look at this “…event location with co-working space and meeting rooms for homeless people. bUm staff invites ” … any organization that aspires the common good – whether civil initiatives or socially committed actors – to work together and network … committed to enhance civil engagement with a regenerative work culture and … intersectoral collaboration.” Let us see where this initiative goes over the next 05 years, funded by the State of Berlin and the Senate for Integration, Labor and Social Affairs under the lable of KARUNA – Social Work and: bum.berlin!

Holocaust-Gedenktag 27.1.2022

ESCAPE

Hier eine Nachricht vom Tagesspiegel: ein Checkpoint-Leser wollte einen Trauerflor an die innere linke Säule vom Brandenburger Tor anbringen … er solle einen Bewilligungsantrag beim Ordnungsamt stellen, hieß es dazu vom Ordnungsamt. Am Ende landete der Antrag als „erledigt”, jedoch müssten … weitere Gremien in die Entscheidung eingebunden werden (wer nur?!?) – auch sei die Bearbeitung sowieso erst nach dem Holocaust-Gedenktag zu erwarten. Dann drohte eine Strafe von 10.000 Euro plus weiterer Kosten im Falle der Trauerflor ohne Genehmigung am Brandenburger Tor zum Holocaust-Gedenktag. Das Fazit von Autor Ralph Boller: „Der Dienstweg … verbindet die Sackgasse mit dem Holzweg”

Women artists in Berlin and beyond …

                Did you know about the Berlin Association of Female Artists VdBK1867?

And that women artists exist, see the forthcoming event in German with Ilona Wolff’s … „Es gibt sie doch: Bedeutende Künstlerinnen in Gegenwart und Geschichte“

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besides the US National Museum of Women in the Arts, this is the worldwide largest documentation of art by female artists. Established in the mid-19th century, the archive with library  and an arts collection encompasses approx. 64 lfm written material as well as fotographs, 2.000 books and 5.750 art pieces that document life and work of more than 3.400 female artists in history until today in and outside Europe. Stroll on the web, explore female art and contact #berlinsights.de for more ways to find interesting female art.

Winter 2021: Berlin & New Federal Government

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Winter downtown Berlin near Friedrichstr along ‘Bundeskanzerlamt’ and Reichstag building: Government features along Angela Merkel: we know, she was somebody! Now with our newly elected Chancelor Olaf Scholz, give him a chance …!

New chancelor Olaf Scholz