UN Research Team Focus on Unpaid Care Work and Social Divides

Three members of the UNRISD Global Research Team will be in New York, the United States of America, on 25 February 2008 to take part in a panel considering the issues surrounding the relationship between social divides and unpaid work.

They will be discussing how research shows that the amount of unpaid care work carried out in any society is enormous and that this work is unequally divided, not only between women and men, but also across class, race and other social divides. They will be stressing how policy making that ignores something of this magnitude cannot but fail to produce optimal societal outcomes and that whilst those who undertake unpaid care work may find it rewarding, the work nevertheless carries significant costs for them - both financial and social.

The panel will be talking about how the broader economic and social policy frameworks, and macropolitical arrangements, shape policy responsiveness to care issues and support those who carry out such work. They will also be asking what kinds of policies are needed to support the unpaid care economy and to transform it along more gender-egalitarian lines?

Shahra Razavi (UNRISD Research Coordinator), Valeria Esquivel, James Heintz and Ito Peng (UNRISD Researchers) will be available for interview on the 25 February 2008 between 10:00 and 12:00 (Eastern Standard Time) and again between 15:00 and 16:00 (Eastern Standard Time) at the Dag Hammarskjöld Auditorium, UN Headquarters, New York, the United States of America or via telephone.

For further information or to schedule an interview, please contact Richard Warren, Julia Gin or Monika Kugemann at UNRISD on +41 (0)22 917 1497 or (mobile) +41 (0)76 455 1847.

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