Care is an economic imperative, not a peripheral concern
In Kathmandu this May, the nations of South Asia gathered to confront an ancient and invisible burden: the unpaid care work that has long kept women at the margins of economic life. For the first time, SAARC member states and UN Women treated this not as a matter of charity or family custom, but as a foundational question of regional prosperity — one whose answer could reshape the economic futures of hundreds of millions of people. The roadmap they are drafting together acknowledges what economists have long known but policymakers have rarely acted upon: that the labor of care, when recognized and invested in, generates more jobs, more growth, and more human possibility than almost any other sector.
- South Asia's female labour force participation is among the lowest on earth, not by accident but by design — unpaid care work functions as an invisible wall that keeps women out of jobs, education, and leadership.
- The cost of inaction is staggering: closing the gender gap in labour participation could expand the region's GDP by up to 51 percent, a figure that reframes care not as a social problem but as an economic emergency.
- A two-day ministerial dialogue in Kathmandu concluded with SAARC nations committing to a historic regional roadmap — the first coordinated attempt to reform how care work is organized, funded, and valued across the subcontinent.
- Care sector investments produce two to three times more jobs than equivalent spending in construction, making the care economy one of the most powerful and underused levers for employment and growth available to the region.
- A zero-draft Action Plan is now moving into negotiation, targeting policy reform, financing mechanisms, infrastructure, and the harder cultural work of shifting who society believes is responsible for care.
- The real test lies ahead — whether ministerial declarations translate into national budgets, binding laws, and the actual reorganization of daily life for women and girls across South Asia.
In Kathmandu this May, the governments of South Asia did something they had never done before: they sat down together to treat the care economy as a matter of serious regional strategy. The two-day ministerial dialogue, concluding on May 14, brought SAARC member states and UN Women together to draft what they are calling a historic roadmap for transforming how care work is organized, financed, and valued across the subregion.
The numbers that drove them to the table are unambiguous. South Asia has among the world's lowest rates of women in the workforce, and the reason is not mysterious. Women and girls carry the overwhelming weight of unpaid care — raising children, tending to elders, managing households — in patterns so entrenched they have become nearly invisible. This labor locks women out of jobs, education, and leadership, and it functions as a brake on the entire region's growth. Economists estimate that closing the gender gap in labour force participation could expand South Asia's GDP by as much as 51 percent.
What made this dialogue significant was its framing: care was positioned not as a welfare issue or a matter of family obligation, but as an economic engine. UN Women research shows that investments in care sectors generate two to three times more jobs than equivalent spending in construction. The care economy is where employment can grow — and where women can realistically access it.
The roadmap emerging from Kathmandu targets coordinated action across policy reform, financing, infrastructure, job creation in care work itself, and the harder work of shifting social norms. SAARC Secretary-General Md. Golam Sarwar put it plainly: care is not a niche concern for the benevolent — it is an economic imperative, a demographic necessity, and a moral calling.
Regional cooperation matters here because South Asian countries face remarkably similar obstacles: entrenched gender norms, aging populations, labour migration straining family structures, and climate pressures on existing care infrastructure. By aligning policies, sharing evidence, and pooling financing, they can scale solutions that no single country could achieve alone.
The zero-draft Action Plan now enters its next phase of negotiation. The genuine test will come when these commitments move from ministerial declarations into budgets and laws — into the actual reorganization of how care gets done in South Asian homes and communities. But the fact that care has been named as central to economic growth, rather than peripheral to it, marks a real shift in how the region understands women's work and women's futures.
In Kathmandu this May, the governments of South Asia gathered to do something they had never done before: treat the care economy as a serious matter of regional strategy. The two-day ministerial dialogue, which concluded on May 14, brought together member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to draft what they're calling a historic roadmap for transforming how care work gets organized, funded, and valued across the subregion.
The numbers that brought them to the table are stark. South Asia has among the world's lowest rates of women in the workforce. The reason is not mysterious: women and girls carry the weight of unpaid care work—raising children, tending to elderly relatives, managing households—in patterns so entrenched they've become invisible. This unpaid labor locks women out of jobs, out of education, out of leadership. It is a brake on the entire region's economic growth. Economists have calculated that if South Asia closed its gender gap in labor force participation, the region's GDP could expand by as much as 51 percent.
What makes this moment significant is that the dialogue positioned care not as a social welfare issue, a matter of charity or family obligation, but as an economic engine. Research from UN Women shows that investments in care sectors generate two to three times more jobs than equivalent spending in construction. A dollar spent on childcare or elder care creates more employment, more tax revenue, more economic multiplier effects than a dollar spent on roads or buildings. The care economy is where the jobs are—and where women can actually access them.
The roadmap emerging from Kathmandu is still in draft form, but it signals coordinated action across multiple fronts: policy reform, financing mechanisms, infrastructure development, job creation in care work itself, and the harder work of shifting social norms about who is responsible for care. SAARC Secretary-General Md. Golam Sarwar framed it plainly: "The care economy is not a niche social issue, nor is it a peripheral concern for the benevolent. It is an economic imperative, a demographic necessity, and above all, a moral calling."
The dialogue was co-organized by UN Women and the SAARC Secretariat, with support from South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. UN Women has been providing technical assistance to South Asian countries since 2024, helping governments build the evidence base and financing strategies needed to actually implement care system reforms. The organization's regional offices are working with governments, women's organizations, the private sector, and universities to move from rhetoric to action.
What makes regional cooperation on this issue particularly valuable is that South Asian countries face remarkably similar obstacles: deeply rooted gender norms that assign care work to women, rapid demographic shifts as populations age, labor migration patterns that pull workers away from their families, and climate pressures that strain existing care infrastructure. No single country can solve these problems alone. But by aligning policy approaches, sharing what works, and pooling financing mechanisms, they can scale solutions that benefit women and girls across the entire region—especially those with the fewest resources and options.
The zero-draft Action Plan now moves into the next phase of negotiation and refinement. The real test will come when these commitments move from ministerial declarations into budgets, laws, and the actual reorganization of how care gets done in South Asian households and communities. But the fact that care is now on the table as a strategic priority, that it has been named as central to economic growth rather than peripheral to it, marks a genuine shift in how the region thinks about women's work and women's futures.
Citações Notáveis
Coordinated action to transform care systems can unlock greater choices and opportunities for women across South Asia. Investing in the care economy can expand women's labour force participation while helping to realize women's rights to education, rest, and participation in public life.— Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women Deputy Executive Director
The care economy is not a niche social issue, nor is it a peripheral concern for the benevolent. It is an economic imperative, a demographic necessity, and above all, a moral calling.— Ambassador Md. Golam Sarwar, SAARC Secretary-General
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does care work matter so much to economic growth? It seems like a social issue, not an economic one.
Because care work is the foundation everything else is built on. If women are spending their days on unpaid childcare and elder care, they can't be in the workforce, can't be in school, can't be in leadership. That's not a social problem—that's an economic loss. When you invest in care infrastructure, you free up women's time and labor for paid work. You also create jobs in the care sector itself. It's a multiplier.
The report mentions a 51 percent potential GDP increase. That's enormous. Is that realistic?
It's a calculation based on closing the gender gap in labor force participation. It's not guaranteed—it depends on actually implementing the reforms. But the math is straightforward: if half your population is locked out of the workforce because of unpaid care responsibilities, you're leaving enormous economic potential on the table.
What's the difference between this roadmap and previous efforts to improve women's economic participation?
This is the first time care has been positioned as a strategic pillar for regional cooperation in South Asia. Before, it was treated as a social welfare issue—something benevolent governments do. Now it's being framed as an economic necessity. That changes what gets funded and how seriously it's taken.
What are the actual obstacles to implementation?
The entrenched ones are hardest: gender norms that say women should do care work, not paid work. But there are also practical barriers—lack of affordable childcare, poor infrastructure, low wages for care workers. The roadmap addresses all of these, but changing norms takes time.
Why did South Korea support this?
South Korea has its own experience with care economy reform and women's economic participation. They're sharing what they've learned. Regional cooperation means countries can learn from each other's successes and failures rather than starting from scratch.