Volunteering, unpaid care work and gender in lower-income countries is the latest paper released as part of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) partnership on the measurement of volunteer work.
The paper looks deeper at unpaid care and volunteering—classifying them as significant for societal well-being and economic development. While these activities are essential civic duties that support communities and individuals in need, they often go unrecognized.
The perspective that only paid activities qualify as work stems from a widespread misconception and obscures the vital contributions volunteering makes to our communities.
The review and analysis of the gendered patterns of volunteering and unpaid care work in lower-income countries, particularly through a focused study of Bangladesh, reveal critical insights that frame the main argument of the paper.
As part of the recommendations, there is a series of calls for decisive actions to better recognize, understand, and support those engaged in volunteer and unpaid care work.
This includes: expanding the measurements of unpaid care conducted by national statistical offices—both within and beyond the household; implementing comprehensive qualitative research that uncovers the diverse and culturally specific meanings and experiences of volunteering and unpaid care; and strengthening policies that empower practitioners to confront and dismantle the entrenched gendered patterns of volunteering and care work, as well as the pervasive gender inequalities in the workforce that result from them.
These calls to action are needed to drive meaningful development progress on the ground and allot volunteering and unpaid care work due acknowledgment—critical to achieving key strategic development policies and objectives.
To read the paper on UNV's Knowledge Portal on Volunteerism, please click here.