Call for recognition of unpaid care work to address ‘time poverty’

DU Correspondent

Speakers at a programme said women and girls in Bangladesh carry a much larger share of unpaid household and caregiving work, which leads to ‘time poverty’ - a situation where people do not have enough time for rest, education, paid work or social participation.

Citing data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UN Women, they said the Unpaid Household Production Satellite Account (2023) estimates that unpaid household work contributes between 21 and 30 percent of the country's GDP. The data show that women spend nearly three times more hours than men on unpaid care and domestic work, they added.

They were addressing a seminar titled "Time for change: Engaging youth to transform unpaid care norms," highlighting the unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work and its link to time poverty.

The programme was organised by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) at the Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium of Dhaka University on Wednesday.

Among the guests present were Professor Sayeema Haque Bidisha, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Administration) of the University of Dhaka; Professor Dr Taiyebur Rahman, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences; Kazi Rabeya Ame, Programme Analyst - Gender and Climate Change at UN Women Bangladesh; Selim Jahan, economist and former Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP; Asma Akter, Deputy Director of BBS; and Shaheen Anam, Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation.

The 2022 Time Use Survey by BBS shows that women spend five to seven times more time on unpaid domestic tasks than men. Rural women face greater pressure due to limited facilities such as water supply and fuel access. According to the BBS Labour Force Survey 2022, women's participation in the labour force is around 36 per cent, compared to more than 80 percent for men.

Global figures show a similar picture. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that women perform 76.2 per cent of total unpaid care work hours worldwide. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has noted that time poverty reduces women's economic opportunities and civic participation.

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