Women Enabled International Comments to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ Draft General Comment on the Right to Just and Favourable Conditions of Work (Article 7)

Women Enabled International (WEI) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the draft General Comment on Article 7 to address just and favorable working conditions for caregivers. WEI advocates and educates for the human rights of all women and girls, emphasizing women and girls with disabilities, and works tirelessly to include women and girls with disabilities in international resolutions, policies, and programs addressing women’s human rights and development. WEI is pleased to see that the draft General Comment on Article 7 recognizes that the right to just and favorable work conditions includes all forms of work, not just paid work or work in the formal economy.

Care work—which for the purposes of this submission includes caring activities performed in the service of others, such as caring for children, persons with disabilities, or dependent adults, both outside the home and within the family—is both a crucial component of a nation’s economic well-being and a constant need across all sectors of all societies . Studies have estimated the monetary value of care work at between 10 and 60 percent of GDP. Despite this, as the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has acknowledged, “domestic work and caring for people has remained largely invisible in economic calculations, statistics, policy and political discourse, and is commonly undervalued by society and policy makers.” This consistent devaluing of care work leads to serious violations of the economic and social rights of caregivers, including their right to just and favorable conditions of work, and can also lead to rights violations for those for whom they provide care. This submission provides a brief overview of the impact that care work has on the rights of women—and particularly women and girls with disabilities, both as caregivers and recipients of care work—and includes recommendations for where the language of the draft General Comment could be strengthened to better address the obstacles that care workers face in securing just and favorable work conditions.