The influence of public policies on the attainment of gender equality with unpaid care work: Evidence from Jirapa Municipality

Abstract

Historically, women all over the world found themselves entangled in the provision of unpaid care work, which consumes a significant amount of their time. Achieving gender equality in unpaid care work requires deliberate effort from the government, including the passage of laws and policies. The essence of this paper is to investigate the gap in access to gender-responsive social amenities and care services and further explore the effectiveness of public policy alternatives in addressing the disproportionate time spent by women on unpaid care work in Jirapa. To achieve this, a mixed concurrent triangulation method was adopted for the study. The study revealed the absence of a comprehensive national child care policy in Ghana. The literature review revealed that despite the significant contribution of unpaid care labour to global GDP, it is not recognised in the computation of GDP in Ghana. The study affirms that inadequate gender-responsive services, such as water, health and child care centres have contributed to an unequal unpaid care burden among women. Consequently, the study recommends that the government adopt a comprehensive national child care policy capable of addressing both the biological and social reproductive roles of women within the purview of unpaid care responsibilities. In furtherance of the findings, it is also recommended that the state increase its investment in the provision of gender-responsive interventions such as utilities and child care centres. Finally, the study recommends to government to hold a multi-stakeholder dialogue to discuss strategies to recognise and compute unpaid care work as part of GDP.