Invest in care economy to build resilience and empower women, SEA countries told
South-East Asia’s care systems depend heavily on women, whether as paid or unpaid care providers. But with decreasing fertility rates and an ageing population, the demand for care is growing rapidly. To meet this increasing need, countries must take action to set up reliable formal care sectors, according to the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) 2024 Regional Report for South-East Asia.

In a media release by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), countries are urged to “invest in the care economy to empower women and build resilient societies in South-East Asia”.

“Demographic, educational and economic trends have converged to put South-East Asia at a critical juncture.

Formalising Southeast Asia’s care economy will protect the well-being and resilience of its population, and is a formidable opportunity to accelerate women’s economic empowerment, says Arnadottir. Photo: OECD

“Formalising its care economy is an imperative for the region in order to protect the well-being and resilience of its population, and a formidable opportunity to accelerate women’s economic empowerment,” says OECD Development Centre director Ragnheidur Elin Arnadottir.

Despite legal reforms enacted between 2019 and 2023 aimed at fostering gender equality in South-East Asia, legal discrimination and worsening social norms persist.

Various legal restrictions continue to affect the autonomy of women and girls, including small gaps in the legislation preventing equal pay for work of equal value; laws restricting women’s rights to inheritance; legal frameworks that do not comprehensively protect girls and women from all forms of violence; laws preventing access to safe abortion.

For instance, five out of 11 countries do not grant women and men the same rights to confer citizenship to their spouses, she highlights.

Beyond formal laws, attitudes undermining women’s rights have gained ground between 2014 and 2022. The portion of the population believing that men should have first priority to jobs when employment is scarce increased by 12%, and the portion of the population justifying domestic violence went up by 14%.

As a result, in 2023, 70% of South-East Asian women live in countries where discrimination in social institutions is high or very high, she says.

“Social norms have continued to frame care as a private matter provided by female family members. National care systems hence rely primarily on women’s unpaid care work.

“Meanwhile, the paid care sector is highly feminised but remains small and largely informal, increasing the vulnerabilities of female workers in the sector, such as domestic workers or migrant workers,” she adds.

According to Arnadottir, all this results in South-East Asia being caught in a vicious circle, where the current characteristics of care provision hinder the formalisation of care sectors; preferences to be cared for by female family members contribute to the low uptake rate of external care services, which, in turn, diminishes the incentive to develop formal care services.

OECD encourages countries to invest in the care economy to empower women and build resilient societies in Southeast Asia. Photo: Freepik

To break that circle, South-East Asian countries must develop a formal care economy that can foster women’s empowerment and inclusive development, she says.

The report anticipates rising educational levels and a shift of the region’s economies towards services, and foresees an increase of women’s participation in the labour market, and less time allocated to unpaid care activities.

This would reduce the supply of family-based care services and increase the demand for paid formal care services, she adds.

According to the report, public and private investment in the care economy will generate formal job opportunities, many which will be taken on by women, given the gendered nature of care.

It says that female care workers transitioning from informal to formal employment will gain better access to social protection schemes, and improved labour rights.

And, the provision of affordable formal care services will allow currently unpaid care providers, who are mostly women, to enter the labour market, remain in it, and allocate more time to work.

“Strong, formal care sectors will not only improve the quality of care, but also make South-East Asian societies more resilient to shocks, such as health pandemics and climate change,” says Arnadottir.

To achieve this, the report recommends formalising jobs by targeting micro- and small enterprises and developing innovative solutions to enhance the rights and working conditions of workers who remain informal.

Other measures include expanding social protection systems to boost the development of formal care services. evolving social norms that shape the private-oriented design of care systems in the region such as by involving men in care and reforming personal status laws, strengthening the legislation protecting women’s rights in the private and public spheres, and ensuring their enforcement.
Women,family,lifestyle,care economy,unpaid carework,women
A formal care economy needs to be established to stop unpaid carework being the burden of mainly women.