Care Economy
Definition and Gender Dimension
The care economy refers to the sector — both paid and unpaid — that involves the provision of care services for children, the elderly, the disabled, and the sick.
- Unpaid care work: Globally, women perform approximately 75% of total unpaid care work (UN Women data). In India, the gender gap in unpaid care work is among the highest in the world, with women spending 5–6 times more hours than men on care activities.
- Paid care economy: Includes professional caregivers, nurses, home health aides, crèche workers, anganwadi workers, and elderly care specialists.
- GDP contribution: Unpaid care work is not captured in national income accounts (GDP), leading to a systematic undervaluation of women's economic contribution. Feminist economists argue that if unpaid care were valued at market rates, it would constitute a significant share of GDP (estimates range from 10–39% depending on methodology).
- Care economy and the SDGs: Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) explicitly calls for recognition, reduction, and redistribution of unpaid care work.
- India context: India's National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data confirms the disproportionate burden of care on women; the Time Use Survey (2019) by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) quantified this gap for the first time officially.
● Tracked since March 08, 2026 · last seen May 05, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes
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