Every day, women perform billions of hours of work that keeps families, communities and economies running. But raising children, caring for ageing parents, preparing meals, cleaning homes and supporting relatives in need still doesn’t officially count as \u2018work\u2019.<\/p>\n
Thirty years after governments worldwide pledged to advance gender equality through the\u00a0Beijing Declaration<\/a>, a collection of international research shows women’s unpaid labour continues to be overlooked, undervalued and mostly invisible in the way economies measure success \u2013 including Gross Domestic Product.<\/p>\n The latest edition of UNSW journal\u00a0The Economic and Labour Relations Review<\/a>\u00a0brings together nine studies examining gender equality across the world. Together, they show while more women than ever are participating in paid work, no country has achieved genuine economic empowerment.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the most entrenched gender gaps are proving remarkably resilient,\u201d says Dr Yuvisthi Naidoo from the\u00a0Social Policy Research Centre<\/a>\u00a0at UNSW Sydney.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the heart of the problem, much of the work women do still simply does not count,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The research in the collection estimates more than half of women’s total labour contribution is unpaid, compared with around one-third for men. The work in households underpins every economy \u2013 but falls outside conventional measures and remains largely invisible in economic policy and public debate.<\/p>\n It\u2019s this invisibility, say the editors \u2013 Dr Naidoo and Honorary Associate Professor Anne Junor from the\u00a0School of Business<\/a>, UNSW Canberra \u2013 that helps explain why progress on gender equality has slowed despite decades of reform.<\/p>\n Work \u2260 empowerment<\/p>\n The research also challenges the assumption that paid employment automatically leads to greater independence for women.<\/p>\n Across many countries, women are entering the workforce in greater numbers but continue to face barriers that limit their economic security and decision-making power.<\/p>\n In some households, women have little control over how their income is spent. In others, they remain concentrated in low-paid or insecure jobs while continuing to shoulder most unpaid care responsibilities.<\/p>\n Participation in work alone does not guarantee independence or security, says the journal\u2019s Editor in Chief Dr Diana Kelly, an Honorary Principal Fellow at the University of Wollongong and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the School of Business, UNSW Canberra.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn many contexts, including parts of the global economy examined in the research, women may earn an income but have limited control over how it is used,\u201d Dr Kelly says.<\/p>\n \u201cEconomic empowerment is about more than employment statistics,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The findings come as the United Nations\u00a0acknowledges<\/a>\u00a0its Sustainable Development Goal of achieving gender equality by 2030 is off track.<\/p>\n A\/Prof. Junor and Dr Naidoo say the optimism accompanying post-war decolonisation in the decades before the Beijing Conference has since declined in an era of globalisation, conflict and financial and pandemic crises.<\/p>\n And in colonial countries where women \u2013 particularly Indigenous women \u2013 were previously not counted as citizens, the recognition of value and rights still lags.<\/p>\n Australia reflects a global pattern<\/p>\n Despite decades of progress, gender segregation remains deeply embedded in the labour market.<\/p>\n