Women in Bangladesh engage in 6.3 hours of “unpaid care work” out of their total 15.3 hours of daily work, which is 41.4% of their total work time, says an ActionAid report.
On the other hand, men spend 1.1 hours per day on “unpaid care work,” a mere 7% of their total work time of 15.3 hours, the report says.
Similarly, in India, women spend an average of 5.1 hours a day on household and other unpaid care work, while men only spend 24 minutes.
ActionAid Bangladesh shared the findings of a study titled “Incorporation of Women's Economic Empowerment and Unpaid Care Work into Regional Policies: South Asia” at a Dhaka hotel on Sunday.
Chief researcher of Gender Studies Cluster at Brac Institute of Governance and Development Dr Simeen Mahmud said women usually do many household works and they do invest times in other works.
“The research findings say women spend more time than men in works. Women remain under pressure for their household works which lagging them behind economically, socially and politically,” she added.
ActionAid Bangladesh Country Director Farah Kabir said: “We do not respect women's household works and we pretend its women's job. Their works are not being evaluated. Their contribution is not recognised in the economy.”
She also said that the state is ignoring the issue in its policy and laws. “As a result, women get stuck in the house,” Farah added.
ActionAid conducted the survey in four countries – Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan. However, ActionAid failed to collect all the required information from Pakistan.
In the report, ActionAid mentioned that there was no proper way of recognising the unpaid care work in Bangladeshi policies and laws, and suggested that any strategy for achieving women's economic empowerment in rural South Asia must be taken into consideration.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
