A new report by the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls released Tuesday has warned that the disproportionate care burden on women is a barrier to their advancement in society.

The report calls for care work to be recognized, reallocated and remunerated through public investment and structural reform.

Though highly valuable, care work, largely relegated to the private or family sphere, goes unrewarded in financial terms. The report estimates that women carry out 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work daily, which adds $10.8 trillion in value to the global economy annually. If accounted for in GDP, which the report advocates, unpaid childcare and housework are estimated at around nine percent of global GDP.

Unpaid care work is “both the root cause and the consequence of gender discrimination,” notes the report, with women providing three-quarters of unpaid care globally. To take on these responsibilities, they might sacrifice health, education, employment, or political participation.

The report recommends the creation of equity and sustainability-led care systems, increased government investment in public services, and policies that encourage the distribution of caregiving responsibilities among all genders.

It cites several institutional examples. In Canada, the government plans to provide childcare at $10 a day or less by March 2026; as of April 2024, more than half of provinces and territories have achieved this target. In China, upon divorce, article 1088 of the 2020 Civil Code provides financial compensation for the spouse bearing the burden of childcare or elderly care. In Tunisia, a 2021 law extends social security to those providing unpaid care in the home.

Tackling gender equality through more robust care systems will also help to meet other goals such as reducing poverty and promoting better health, education and social protection in society, notes the report.