Care economy in the Arab Region
The recognition of importance of the care economy is growing in the Arab region where ensuring availability of and access to quality care for elderly, children and people with disabilities can be challenging due to various factors such as demographic shifts, economic and political instabilities, and changing patterns of family structure. The Arab region also relies heavily on international migrant domestic workers for the provision of care especially at home and ensuring decent work for migrant domestic workers has been a challenge. Working with its constituents, UN agencies and development partners, the ILO in Arab region has initiated important work in the care economy.
A minimum maternity leave period of 14 weeks
was mandated by the ILO Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) (1) and the related Recommendation (No. 191) (2), yet few countries in the region meet this threshold.
≈6M jobs by 2035 will be generated by investing in
childcare & long-term care services in 12 MENA countries, according to ILO. 5.1M are direct jobs in childcare, ≈ 5.3M are direct jobs in long-term care, 2.6M are indirect jobs in non-care sectors (3).
Every dollar spent on a care package
that extends adequately paid childcare-related leave as well as early childhood care and education services would result in around 3 dollars of GDP increase.
6.6 million domestic workers in the Arab States
accounting for 12.3% of total employment, who are mostly migrant workers, face significant decent work deficits, including poor remuneration, lack of social protection & restrictions on forming unions
News and Articles
To browse through all news and articles on Care Economy topic in the Arab States region
Highlighted publications
Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work
Making decent work a reality for domestic workers in the Middle East: Progress and prospects ten years after the adoption of the Domestic...
Partners and projects
Women’s empowerment in the context of the care economy (WE Care) - Supporting women-led care cooperatives to change perceptions and policy...
ILO and SADAQA Investing in Childcare in Jordan
Promoting Productive Employment and Decent Work for Women in Egypt, Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territory
The FAIRWAY Programme