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CELEBRATING THE ROLE OF WOMEN’S UNPAID AND UNVALUED WORK
Ka Tutandike Uganda (KTU) joins the rest of the World in Commemorating the International Labour Day on 1 May. KTU marks this Labour Day as a time to celebrate the role of workers in the economy and address the real economic issues.
Uganda is a signatory to the International Labour Organization (ILO) convention on the rights of workers, which we joined soon after Independence in 1962.
However, as Uganda and the rest of the World celebrate this day, KTU calls on Governments and institutions to recognize women’s unpaid work as a Human Rights Issue. Women do most of the care work in families; they care for children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled among others. We must recognize that heavy and unequal care burdens may curtail the enjoyment of human rights by women and girls, including their rights to education, work, social security and participation, as well as to rest and leisure. Systematically unequal distribution of care work and household chores between women and men also raises concerns in terms of the right to equality and non-discrimination and the obligations of Governments in this regard.
Inadequate policies and practices regarding unpaid care may also undermine or violate women’s rights to the highest attainable standard of health and an adequate standard of living. In addition, when care work is not adequately recognized or supported by Governments, the rights of children who rely on care provision for their health, life and wellbeing may also be violated.
In a bid to lessen women’s burden on child care, KTU is partnering with market women living in urban and rural poverty, especially in market places, to provide Early Childhood Development (ECD) Services. We employ a holistic approach to ECD in order to transform the lives of children in market places and ensure that they are not deprived of the love, care, nurturing, health, nutrition and protection that they need to survive, grow and develop. We therefore call upon institutions to partner with us to ensure that the necessary public services and infrastructure including childcare, healthcare, water and energy provision are in place to support care, especially for disadvantaged communities.
In order to truly empower women, we must ensure that unpaid care is better valued and supported. “HAPPY LABOUR DAY CELEBRATIONS.”
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