Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Women labour, child care support and demographic cliff

Published : Tuesday, 1 March, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 775
pinki shah
Rapid Growth, social progression and modernization has a far greater impact on women labour force participation and their contribution to the world economy. Unfortunately, over the past two decades the female labour force participation rate has dropped steadily and created severe gender imbalance in some parts of the globe. According to a recent (2021) report of ILOSTAT, globally female and male labour force participation rates were 51.6% and 94.6% respectively. As per labour force survey of Bangladesh female labour force participation improved from 24% in 2000 to 36.7% in 2017, still women are under-represented in the labour force in comparison to men.

Until now women who are of sandwich generation (people who are squeezed between the simultaneous demands of caring for their aging parents and supporting their dependent children) are struggling to balance the roles of worker, parental carer and mother, and still accomplishing the lion's share of unpaid household and childcare responsibilities in developing countries. In Bangladesh patriarchal society they are liable for performing the caretaking duties and moreover for both parents (and/or in-laws), children and grandchildren in rural and urban areas. Perhaps Covid-19 created a new norm of education system and health hazards have multifold the workload across women irrespective of their working or non-working status.

Globally, women perform 76.2% of total hours of unpaid care work and in Asia and the Pacific, that figure rises to 80%, more than three-times as much as men, found ILO. Across 37 countries covering 20% of the global population, women typically undertake 75% of childcare responsibilities - with a range from 63% in Sweden to 93% in Ireland, a study claimed. Gender, Inclusion, and poverty survey revealed that in Bangladesh, women and men spend 5.16 and 0.34 hours per/day on childcare and domestic work respectively. Estimates also show that the value of unpaid care work (also called unpaid household work) can be equivalent to at least half of a country's GDP.

The majority of working mothers are found to be working as unpaid family workers and often encounter a trade-off between childcare and livelihood ambitions. The care work, which is time and resource demanding, has steered working mothers to cut down their paid working hours to unjustifiable levels and that is holding them back from bright careers, better mental and physical health and good rearing of children.

According to an estimation, across 53 developing countries, some 35.5 million children were without adult supervision for at least an hour in a given week; and across 66 countries covering two-thirds of the world's people, women take on an extra 10 or more weeks per year of unpaid care work, where the care load is heavy and most unequal. Undoubtedly this is one of the reasons that women continue to earn 20% (ILO data) less than men and may discourage working mothers' employment in the long run.

Childcare has been an issue in global and national policy agenda for several years to governmentsIn Bangladesh Labor Act of 2006, sec. 94, states, "in every establishment, where 40 (forty) or more female workers are ordinarily employed, one or more suitable rooms shall be provided and maintained for the use of their children who are under the age of 6 (six years).Unfortunately, the 'Care gap' is evident in many countries and majority of the governments' related existing policies and approaches are gender-neutral and lack strict regulation and implementation. Despite some progress and efforts, many societies and organizations in developing countries are not aware and reluctant about its need even in urban areas. An estimated 40% of mothers in developing countries bring their children to the workplace or provide childcare while working.

The rapid urbanization, changes in household structure and pandemic are demanding more external support, the care responsibilities (especially childcare).Changing lifestyles and prevalence of nuclear families around the world has contributed to place care on policy agendas. In addition, the price of child care has risen sharply, increasing faster than the incomes over the last several decades. Often children's responsibility affect the terms on which women work and perhaps mothers pay a significant percentage of their wage in the process of nurturing their children especially if she is a single mother. A lack of childcare/day-care facilities is an obstruction to women's continuity and re-entry to the labour force.

It is evidenced that in developing countries the social and cultural norm of marriage, family and dire need of children, limits women's opportunity to earn. An estimate reveals, 43% of highly skilled women leave the workforce after becoming mothers (www.workingmother.com).Quite often for new mothers, rejoining the labour force is not an easy option especially for the women over the age of 40 after a long break. Even sometimes women are forced to opt flexible work, closer to home or break from job and later mistreated at home. However in some low-income regions of the world, remaining outside of the labour force is not a choice for the majority of women rather an obligation and it is one of the main reasons for women migration to urban Bangladesh, a majority labour force in the ready-made garment sector are women.

In today's society it has also been observed that in some instances because of the gender biasness and child care burden, women are choosing not to marry and pursuing higher education and prefer bright career. As a result of the development, the birth rate is declining across parts of the world. A study says, 61% of women think motherhood disrupts their progress opportunities.

In modern time it is quite evident that in urban areas first-time mothers are older and have fewer or no children. In most developed countries, the birth rate of women over 40 has surpassed the rate of women aged 20 and younger. In the 1960s, there were six people of working age for every retired person, today the ratio is 3:1, and by 2035, it will be 2:1, as projected by the World economic forum.

The overall decline in birth rates has far-reaching effects on society and future generations. Fewer babies and young people and a growing aging population will undoubtedly affect the future of economies and is a big concern for educators and policymakers. The so-called 'demographic cliff' inevitably leads to school closings, declining student enrolment, declining labour force and related services. Many economists and social scientists recommend a restructuring of work covering flexible working conditions, access to quality and affordable child care and investment in the care economy to facilitate decent work. Such an arrangement can help working mothers to combine paid work and family responsibilities, which is the demand of modern time thus ensuring a healthy gender balanced society.
Dr Pinki Shah, Professor,
USB, University of Liberal
Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)






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