(from left) Kumbirai Kahiya, Jessie Chihota, Regis Mtutu and Samuel Wadzai during Monday’s press conference
BY MUNYARADZI BLESSING DOMA
Zimbabwe is set to commemorate the second anniversary of the International Day of Care this Tuesday, with the emphasis being on recognising its importance in society.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday as a lead up to the commemorations, Regis Mtutu, Women’s Rights and Gender Justice Coordinator at Oxfam, said the day was “not only meant to raise awareness on care work but also to highlight its importance.”
Mtutu added that “we want to push to a situation where we have care work as a right, as a human right, everybody has a right to care.”
The International Day of Care and Support which is celebrated on October 29, is one of the many events founded by the United Nations with the purpose of bringing the world together in unity to celebrate and feature the most important common values.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), care work consists of two overlapping activities: direct, personal and relational care activities, such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner; and indirect care activities, such as cooking and cleaning. Unpaid care work is care work provided without a monetary reward by unpaid carers.
In her keynote message, Kumbirai Kahiya, Vice Chairperson of the Economic Empowerment Cluster, at Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) said they honour the vital role caregivers play in nurturing communities, uplifting families, and building a compassionate society.
“Unpaid care work, disproportionately borne by women, underpins our societies yet remains invisible and undervalued.
“In all societies, women still carry out a greater share of unpaid care work responsibilities.
“Globally, women carry out 76 percent of the total amount of this work, over three times more than men (ILO, 2018).
“Additionally, the gap between women’s and men’s contributions to unpaid care work has narrowed by only seven minutes per day and as a result, women continue to work longer hours than men do overall (ILO, 2018).
“There is no doubt that care work inclusive of childcare and care needs for disabled persons as well as ill members of the family are a challenge in low-income and developing countries such as Zimbabwe and this makes caregiving of any kind difficult and time-consuming where proper equipment is lacking.
“This burden, magnified by inadequate public support, hinders gender equality and limits women’s full participation in economic and social life,” said Kahiya.
She added that addressing gender inequality in unpaid care work should be a priority in working towards women’s economic empowerment.
Kahiya also reviewed that men are better able to participate in the labour market and labour market outcomes are more equitable where working-time arrangements are more flexible, childcare is subsidized, and paid parental leave for both men and women is available.
“The importance of addressing the burden of unpaid care work to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment is recognized in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 through the adoption of Target 5.4 which states that: “Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.
“Today as the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, we advocate for a fundamental shift: recognizing, reducing, and redistribution of unpaid care work.”
Kahiya further revealed that care work had so much significance in the economic contribution.
“Unpaid care work, which includes tasks such as childcare, elder care, and household chores, plays a vital role in the economy. “Although it is not formally recognized in GDP calculations, this work supports the labour force and enables many individuals to participate in paid employment.
“By providing a stable home environment, unpaid caregivers contribute to productivity and economic stability.
“Social Stability: unpaid care work is fundamental to the social fabric of communities. Caregivers—often women—help maintain family structures and nurture future generations.
“This work fosters social cohesion and resilience within families and communities, especially in the face of challenges such as economic hardship and health crises.
“Gender Equality: the burden of unpaid care work disproportionately falls on women, reinforcing gender inequalities in Zimbabwe.
“Recognizing and valuing this work is essential for achieving gender equality. By addressing the imbalance in care responsibilities, society can promote equal opportunities for women in education and employment, leading to broader social and economic benefits.
“Health and Well-Being: unpaid care work significantly affects the health and well-being of caregivers and those receiving care. “Caregivers often face physical and emotional strain, which can impact their health. Acknowledging and supporting unpaid care work can lead to better health outcomes for both caregivers and care recipients, contributing to a healthier society overall.
“Policy Implications: understanding the significance of unpaid care work is critical for policymakers.
“Recognizing this work can lead to the development of supportive policies, such as parental leave, childcare services, and community support programs. By integrating unpaid care work into policy discussions, Zimbabwe can create a more equitable and sustainable future,” she added.
Samuel Wadzai from Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET), an organisation that represents informal workers said there is a lot of misconception around the nature of care work and how it affects women and men.
“But I think as an organisation we have also realised that there is a lot of challenges that come around as a result of informality.
“We have seen the rise of informality in our economy and the majority of players in the informal economy are women on one hand.
“And they are also expected to be doing work, the care work at home and there is a lot of intersectionality, the nexus between unpaid care work and informal trading because of the evidence of the lot of work that Oxfam has done, a lot of research.
“We have come up with recommendations in terms of how a balance can be created that women are not affected negatively by the intersectionality between unpaid care work and the rise of informality in Zimbabwe,” said Wadzai.
He added that VISET has come with a lot of suggestions so that a balance can be created to ensure that women are not affected negatively by the intersectionality between unpaid care work and the rise of informality in Zimbabwe.
“We value the recognition of care work, I think little has been done in terms of just recognizing the importance of the work that women are doing around care work.
“Sometimes we take it for granted especially as men to think that it’s automatic that, women should be doing what they are doing without putting systems in place to support.
“And it becomes worse for women that are also working in the informal sector, so we have been championing work around recognising the existence of this work and properly defining it as work and put in place initiatives that ensure that women that are doing most of the work are rewarded, are paid and recognized.
“So the issue of recognition and I’m glad that tomorrow we are having our commemorations and that in itself is a huge step in our view to start to ensure that there is recognition.”
He added that they had also done a lot of work in implementing policies that support women in the informal economy such as access to affordable child care, flexible working arrangement and social protection programmes.
Also speaking at the same press conference, Jessie Chihota, Programs Manager at Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), said they want the enactment of a standalone unpaid care and domestic work law.
“From the Government specifically, we would like a reduction of import duties for gadgets that can be used to ease the load of unpaid care and domestic work, things like washing machines.
“And also from the public sector when you are constructing houses under the public housing construction, we would appreciate the installation of solar geysers, running water, electricity just so that we ease the load of work that is taken including time that is taken when women are looking for firewood and have to fetch water.
“And also we want the education sector to include the issue of unpaid care and domestic work in the education curriculum just so that we can dismantle the idea of gender roles which children might have whilst growing up and so that they can also be recognition and reduction of unpaid care and domestic work.
“And from the private sector we are looking for flexible hours for new mothers and as a new mother myself, I can definitely it’s something that we can do with, when you have a child care centre in the building, it becomes much easier for you to have time to breastfeed your child and also to balance it with the work that you have.
“WALPE is also currently working on its submissions for the 2025 National Budget where we are demanding an increase for the women’s budget, with a particular focus on unpaid care and domestic work and water and sanitation given the effects of El-Nino, they are currently experiencing in Zimbabwe,” added Chihota.
Commemorations for the International Day of Care are set to be on Tuesday in Harare.
