In the lead up to the International Day of Care and Support, WIEGO, HomeNet International (HNI) and the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) are hosting a webinar examining how growing investment in the care economy across Asia-Pacific can deliver transformative change for workers in informal employment.
Globally, there are almost 76 million domestic workers, and 76 per cent of them are women. And close to 148 million women do home-based work across the world, often juggling care responsibilities for children and elders.
Ageing populations, climate change, conflict and other crises are placing growing pressure on already stretched care systems. By 2030, 2.3 billion people are expected to need care, according to the UN.
Putting workers at the centre of care economy investment
Care economy initiatives are being scaled across Asia-Pacific to advance women’s economic empowerment. These include UN Women’s TransformCare initiative, which addresses the undervaluing, invisibility and unequal distribution of paid and unpaid care work.
This webinar will introduce TransformCare and share experiences from Indonesia and Bangladesh. It will also bring perspectives from domestic workers, home-based workers and the trade union movement into the discussion about what would make care economy investments truly transformative for workers.
Speakers
Panelists include representatives from the United Nations, the governments of Indonesia and Bangladesh, HomeNet International, the International Domestic Workers Federation and the International Trade Union Confederation–Asia Pacific:
- Dr. Feroza Sanjana, Programme and M&E Specialist, Women’s Economic Empowerment, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific;
- Dr Amurwani Dwi Lestariningsih, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Indonesia;
- Asma Akhter, Deputy Director and Lead, Gender Statistics Cell, Demography and Health Wing, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics;
- Sonia George, Executive Committee Member, International Domestic Workers Federation;
- Ume Laila Azhar, Executive Director, HomeNet Pakistan and representative of HomeNet International; and
- Adriana Quimpo Chiu, Coordinator, PIN@Y Careworkers Transnational (SENTRO).
The panel will be moderated by Raina Bhattacharya, Programme Officer for Asia at the International Domestic Workers Federation, and Aura Sevilla, WIEGO’s Asia Social Protection Specialist.
What the panel will discuss
Panelists will examine:
- The UN’s TransformCare initiative and the 5R Framework for Decent Care Work (a human rights–based and transformative approach to public policy grounded in gender equality and social justice), and other key initiatives across Asia-Pacific;
- Indonesia’s national care economy roadmap and occupational recognition pathway for caregivers;
- Bangladesh’s care economy policy reforms, data systems and workforce development; and
- Worker and trade union perspectives on professionalisation, employment relationships, migrant care work and changing gender norms.
The panel will also identify concrete next steps for feeding workers’ input into the TransformCare roadmap.
What is the International Day of Care and Support?
In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution proclaiming an International Day of Care and Support, to be commemorated annually on 29 October.
The day acknowledges the disproportionate burden of unpaid care and domestic work on women and girls, and highlights the need to address these structural barriers.
