487 fb62dcbb-a08c-4f0a-be63-bd0923da9e26 Time to Care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis Clare Coffey Patricia Espinoza Revollo Rowan Harvey Max Lawson Anam Parvez Butt Kim Piaget Diana Sarosi Julie Thekkudan calibre (7.1.0) [https://calibre-ebook.com] 2020-01-20T10:22:11+00:00 <div> <p>Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most essential work – the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women and girls around the world. Tending to others, cooking, cleaning and fetching water and firewood are essential daily tasks for the wellbeing of societies, communities and the functioning of the economy. The heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities. </p> <p><br>This has to change. Governments around the world must act now to build a human economy that is feminist and values what truly matters to society, rather than fuelling an endless pursuit of profit and wealth. Investing in national care systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by women and girls and introducing progressive taxation, including taxing wealth and legislating in favour of carers, are possible and crucial first steps.</p></div> Oxfam 9781787485419 en piratecareintroduction