The Women and Media Collective (WMC) together with the Social Scientists’ Association (SSA) organised the Regional Conference on Equality and Equity in Recognising Unpaid Care Work and Women’s Labour in South Asia on 20 and 21 October 2022.
With the participation of researchers, activists, and advocates on unpaid care work and also on women’s issues, the conference featured discussions on better understanding unpaid care work, sharing research findings on the matter while taking a look at the significance of unpaid care work to the economy. The conference also featured a short documentary on the issue in Sri Lanka.
The two-day conference featured several discussions including numerous panellists and the presentation of a number of research papers. The discussions featured topics such as ‘Gendering care work and economy,’ ‘Why measure and value unpaid care work?’ ‘Zooming in on social media and unpaid care work,’ and the ‘Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on unpaid care work’.
The conference brought into focus the concept of unpaid care work and how it is essentially the work that is done within the home primarily for the wellbeing of the family-based household. Unpaid care work includes unpaid domestic work, care of household members, as well as volunteer activities such as maintaining social networks which support the household in various ways.
It was presented that in most households in South Asia these activities were carried out by or were considered to be the primary responsibility of women members of the family. This work has social as well as economic value which is critical for all household members and by extension to the larger economy. However, it was noted that the labour, time, and value of unpaid care work is as yet not recognised by mainstream economic planners as it is viewed through the prism of gendered roles of women and men.
During the two-day gathering, it was understood that the conference and the topic of discussion could not have been held at a more suitable time, a sentiment reiterated in the conference’s keynote address delivered by academic, rights activist, and Member of Parliament Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.
Sri Lanka is currently experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis which has increasingly and severely affected those who carry out social reproduction work – child care, maintaining households, community relations, etc.
Dr. Amarasuriya in her address proposed that what we were experiencing as a country was also a social crisis, one that had called for an “interrogation of feminism’s relationship with capitalism – especially neoliberal capitalism”. She noted that it had, however, provided us with an opportunity to reshape the future in radically different terms, stating that there was a “lack of representation of women in decision-making bodies” and proposing that there must be empowerment programmes and quotas to ensure equality.
Interestingly, intervention on the concept of ensuring meritocracy was also discussed, so that only women who deserve to be in these positions get there. However, talks of this nature have often only stood to obstruct furthering of important discussions on representation.
The conference also saw the consideration of the lack of space available to debate the conditions that produce disadvantages and difficulties for women; to address how deteriorating economic and living conditions are linked to a lack of social protection systems and exploitative working conditions including lack of living wages, as well as the resurgence of ethno-religious nationalisms and its impact on maintaining myths, superstitions, and gendered stereotypes.
Most importantly, the conference allowed for the recognition of how the invisibility and exploitation of social reproductive work – both paid and unpaid – is part of the economic and social crisis we are facing right now.