Recognising unpaid female care labour

 Sri Lanka’s economy continues to rely heavily on women’s labour, both paid and unpaid. During a recent panel discussion hosted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya highlighted Sri Lanka’s need to recognise unpaid care labour.

With recognition and unpaid care labour integration into national economic planning remaining a priority for Sri Lanka, The Sunday Morning Business reached out to several stakeholders regarding how Sri Lanka can proceed. They highlighted the need for a systematic recognition of unpaid care labour within national economic planning, alongside structural reforms and improved social protection infrastructure.

 

Care labour as a profession

 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Ministry of Labour Secretary S.M. Piyatissa noted that societal attitudes which frame caregiving as a woman’s responsibility largely contributed to women not entering, or leaving, employment. He stated that this resulted in women becoming economically dependent on their husbands, thereby limiting their financial independence.

“The current female labour force participation remains low, at around 31–32%. One key burden constraining its improvement is the lack of proper systems providing care labour. Sri Lanka lacks properly trained care professionals, especially in elderly and disability care. Thus, developing these is essential to improve women’s labour participation,” he said.

Piyatissa noted that Government attempts had been initiated regarding the care economy, in collaboration with three relevant ministries. Several studies had been conducted for this and an action plan based on the findings was underway, he said, adding that following the plan, implementation would be undertaken this year.

“From our ministry’s perspective, we hope to develop a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ)-level programme related to care work, for which courses have been designed already. We are in discussions to establish the necessary resources to facilitate this. A survey was conducted to understand the demand for care work, and currently a data analysis process is underway,” he said.

 

Lack of data as a key issue

 

Meanwhile, University of Colombo (UOC) Department of Economics Senior Lecturer Dr. Sasini T.K. Kulatunga pointed out that one of the major issues with unpaid work and the valuing of unpaid work was the lack of data. With the only nationally representative dataset that exists being the 2017 Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) time-use data, she noted how the available data did not reflect the unpaid burdens of the crisis which unfolded after 2019.

“Lack of data is a challenge to the economic valuation of time. Time can be valued using economic methods as proposed by many feminist economists working on unpaid work. The valuation of unpaid work will, in fact, increase the GDP reflecting women’s full contribution to production. Therefore, mandating periodic time-use data is one of the major steps towards its valuation,” she said.

 

Awareness essential

 

Women and Media Collective Senior Programme Officer Anushka Opatha explained that the organisation’s engagement with unpaid care work was highlighted in a research titled ‘Recognising Unpaid Care Work in Sri Lanka: Key Research Findings from Six Districts.’ This was conducted in six districts in Sri Lanka, with a total sample of 840 respondents (700 women and 140 men) to understand the situation on the ground level regarding women’s contributions.

The study included a time-use survey, through which participants were asked to record their daily activities based on a structured diary listing 25 tasks. She explained that this enabled the researchers to assess how much time women spent on unpaid care work  while capturing the simultaneous nature of much of this work, providing a more detailed understanding of the time and effort involved. 

“In valuing unpaid work, the study has adopted the replacement cost method where a generalist wage could be calculated depending on tasks performed. The study revealed that the value of unpaid work performed by the average woman was higher in all cases.” 

Furthermore, Opatha stated that recognising unpaid care work required both community-level engagement and policy-level intervention. She said that the organisation conducted discussions at the community level, as well as with policymakers and ministry representatives, to raise awareness about what constituted unpaid care work and why it should be recognised, especially in relation to women’s labour force participation. 

Opatha added that unpaid care work was often perceived as ‘women doing nothing at home,’ as it was not paid for and therefore not valued. Thus, recognition, she said, was a necessary first step in addressing this perception.

She further explained that recognition at the policy level would enable the State to introduce supportive services, including childcare facilities, elder care services, and care services for persons with disabilities. Such measures will allow women more time to engage in income-earning activities, especially in the formal sector, since at present, a large proportion of women’s income-generating activities takes place in the informal sector, especially in rural areas.

“While women already contribute to the economy, the issue lies in the lack of recognition and valuation of their unpaid labour. Many women who wish to engage in income-earning activities are usually constrained by time, due to care responsibilities and the absence of accessible, affordable care services,” she said.

Opatha also highlighted interlinking concerns including Sri Lanka’s ageing population and raised questions regarding who would take on caregiving responsibilities in the absence of structured support systems. In this regard, she emphasised that the State must implement policy and legal measures to formally recognise unpaid care work and establish the necessary care infrastructure and support systems.

 

Recognition and accounting

 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce Sri Lanka (WCIC) Chairperson Gayani De Alwis stated that unpaid care labour carried out by women must first be formally recognised and measured. She described unpaid care work as largely invisible, yet the backbone of the functioning of Sri Lankan society, and emphasised that recognition should begin through national accounting mechanisms.

She explained that most countries, rather than integrating unpaid care labour into their GDP, used the household satellite accounting system under the United Nations System of National Accounts. Under this approach, countries conduct annual time-use surveys to measure how much time women and men spend on care activities. She noted that measurement was the first step, as it enabled policymakers to understand the scale of the unpaid care burden.

Once time-use data is collected, De Alwis explained that countries could apply valuation methods to quantify unpaid care work. For this, there are several approaches, including the replacement cost method and the opportunity cost method. The former calculates how much it would cost to employ someone to perform those tasks, while the latter estimates the income given up by a woman who remains at home instead of participating in paid professional employment.  

Sri Lanka’s latest national-level Time Use Survey (TUS) was conducted in 2017 by the DCS. The survey recorded that women spent 86.4% of their time on domestic unpaid care work as opposed to men, who only spent 54%. 

Subsequent research such as ‘Prioritising the Care Economy for an Inclusive Sri Lanka,’ which was done utilising the aforementioned survey, indicates that the valuation of unpaid work reveals that its total economic contribution is substantial, ranging from 10.3% to 42% of GDP (based on different wage rates), with women contributing the vast majority of this value, specifically 8.6% to 35% of the total GDP.

Furthermore, according to the TUS, on average, Sri Lankan women spent five hours and 36 minutes per day on unpaid domestic and caregiving activities, while men spent one hour and 30 minutes per day on the same. Thus, the proportion of time spent each day on unpaid domestic and care work for women and men in Sri Lanka was reported at 23.4% and 6.2%, respectively.

In this context, De Alwis highlighted the importance of recognising unpaid care labour. “If the unpaid care burden borne by women is quantified, the GDP value will be increased, but it should be tracked separately, since it would help understand women’s contribution to households in the national economy,” she said.

She also noted that in the context of declining female labour force participation, policies to help women enter the work force were important. She said that time-use surveys generated gender-disaggregated data, which could help targeted policy interventions such as affordable childcare facilities, elder care services, safe public transport, social protection schemes, and gender-responsive budgeting. 

“Women carry a disproportionate share of household responsibilities even when engaged in paid work and if these are not quantified, it affects career progression, skill development, and long-term economic security, including access to pensions and social protection, impacting their economic empowerment and independence.” 

She added that the main reason for female unemployment was usually listed as the care responsibility barrier and the lack of affordable and accessible care infrastructure, impacting both entering or re-entering the workforce.

“Time poverty is another important aspect that should be understood, especially for women. When a person is burdened with these responsibilities, there is no time to engage in other activities, leading to burnout. Also, when women re-enter the workforce following maternity leave, skill gaps could emerge if there is no support, especially as organisations tend to move on. Thus, accounting for this and understanding it will help value the cost to the economy,” she said. 

At a time when brain drain is increasing in a country where over half the population is women, De Alwis observed that tracking and valuing unpaid care work would help identify the extent of underutilised human resources within the economy.

She emphasised that valuation alone would not be sufficient without policy action, adding that once unpaid care work was systematically accounted for, it would provide the foundation for integrating care-related considerations into fiscal policy, social protection schemes, and broader economic planning.

 

Monetary compensation for unpaid care work

 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, civil and labour lawyer and Commercial and Industrial Workers’ Union (CIWU) President Swasthika Arulingam highlighted the importance of recognising the full cycle of labour, stating that feminist economists had developed methodologies to capture and account for unpaid care work within national economic frameworks.

“Many women wake up as early as 4 or 5 a.m., complete household work, work 8–12 hours in a factory or workplace, and then return home to continue domestic work for a further 3–4 hours. The standard recognised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) is an eight-hour workday. However, in reality, a working person, especially a woman, engages in significantly more than eight hours of labour. Also, women who are not engaged in salaried employment undertake domestic work throughout the day,” she said.

Thus, she explained that feminist economic approaches tried to capture this unpaid care work and that there were ongoing debates regarding how it should be compensated. In her view, compensation should come through taxation from productive industries, especially corporate entities, as they remained the largest beneficiaries of unpaid care labour. 

Arulingam further explained that the labour provided to the private sector was largely sustained through care work performed in domestic settings, noted as ‘reproductive labour’ in feminist terminology.

“Who should bear the cost of this care work? It should be the industries generating profit that should assume responsibility. In today’s context, the private sector generates the majority of profits and should be taxed accordingly, with revenue allocated towards compensating unpaid care work,” she said.

Furthermore, Arulingam highlighted that unpaid care work indicated the lived realities of many women and thus should not remain indefinitely unrecognised or uncompensated.

 

The need for infrastructure investment

 

Speaking further on this topic, researcher and Feminist Collective for Economic Justice member Niyanthini Kadirgamar stated that despite Sri Lanka’s low female labour force participation, the country’s economic structure depended on women’s labour, mainly in its three key foreign exchange earning sectors. In addition to this, women also contribute vastly to the informal economy, including agriculture, fisheries, and rural industries.

According to her, in order to recognise unpaid care work, there is a need for investment in infrastructure. As such, she highlighted the need for accessible childcare and eldercare facilities located near workplaces and homes. 

Kadirgamar further emphasised the need to expand social protection. She observed that Sri Lanka lagged behind many countries in terms of social protection schemes, adding that the existing programmes only covered limited groups and pointing out that ideally, social protection schemes should be universal.

“Also, part of care work is the cost involved. It could be costs related to children’s education, healthcare, and emergencies. When care work infrastructure is disrupted, then many women end up having to take on a higher cost, potentially leading to debt,” she said. 

Kadirgamar also stated that Sri Lanka was yet to see proper implementation of policies regarding unpaid care work. Thus, she believes there is a need for an overall shift in the Government’s economic thinking as well.

“There is also a concern whether the available employment offers fair wages and safe working conditions for women. In the absence of adequate employment opportunities, we can look into certain guaranteed employment schemes which provide income security and social protection, recognising unpaid care work, and potential Government-led payout systems,” she said.

Attempts by The Sunday Morning Business to contact the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs were unsuccessful.

Source:https://www.themorning.lk/