Women’s unpaid work fuels gender inequality

 
 
BWI Regional Women Committee for Africa and Middle East Elizabeth Amuto said that discriminatory social practices have increased women workers’ unpaid work and gender inequality. She said that their unpaid care work has long been recognized as a driver of inequality with direct links to wage discrimination and physical and mental health stressors. 

Amuto, who is also from Uganda’s UBCCECAWU, said that more than ever, women workers should fight for gender equality translated into decent jobs and fair wages, equal access to social protection and gender-responsive health and safety standards at workplaces.   


video script


My name is Elizabeth Amuto from the Construction union named UBCCECAWU of Uganda. I am the Chair the BWI Regional Women Committee for Africa and Middle East.


Africa and Middle East working women are among those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discriminatory social norms have increased the unpaid workload, especially in the BWI sectors and those living in poverty or rural and isolated locations.


Women and girls face disproportionate impacts with far reaching consequences that are only further amplified in contexts of fragility, conflict, and emergencies with hard-fought gains for women’s rights under threat. Evidence from past epidemics in the region shows that adolescent girls are at particular risk of dropping out and not returning to school even after the crisis is over. Women’s unpaid care work has long been recognized as a driver of inequality with direct links to wage inequality, lower income, and physical and mental health stressors.


Equal and better future is what we are expecting to reach for women, youth and men in the construction, wood-forestry and all sectors of BWI. We fight for equal rights, equal wages, equal social protection, adequate and gender fair occupational health and safety conditions to improve our living conditions for a better future.


As we are celebrating the International Women’s Day, I appeal to all BWI Affiliates in Africa and Middle East and globally to engage employers and government in all countries to build an Equal and Better Future for All.


To All the Women: Our Gender! Our Strength!