Takunda Mawere *prepares a huge fire to cook food for her children.
The sun is scorching hot in the Mwenezi area, and the sound of chirping birds fills the air.
The fields are dotted with dried maize stalks, a stark reminder of the failed harvest due to insufficient rainfall caused by El Niño. The heat severely hit the area, and Mawere’s family struggles to make ends meet.
Mawere relies on her husband's small groceries from South Africa to feed their two children.
The El Niño-induced drought has devastated many rural areas in Zimbabwe, and like the Maweres, numerous families are struggling to put food on the table.
Women are the most affected by these climatic changes, as it means an increase in unpaid care and domestic work. The load of care work falls heavily on them. With her husband in South Africa, all the household chores fall on Mawere.
“My husband is in South Africa. I am taking care of our two children and my husband’s parents,” Mawere said.
“My children attend primary school, which is about 5km away from our home. There is a borehole far from our house.
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“Most of the time, the queues are long as everyone fetches water for their domestic use.
“Most water sources like dams and rivers have dried out, leaving us and our livestock at the mercy of dehydration and hunger.” she added.
This is Mawere’s struggle, and she is not alone in bearing the load of unpaid care and domestic work.
In many parts of Zimbabwe, whether urban or rural, unpaid care work is neither recognised nor fairly distributed, and women are the most affected and this resulted in some of them lagging behind in terms of career and skills development.
Mawere's story is a touching illustration of the unequal load of unpaid care and domestic work that women bear, worsened by climate change.
She single-handedly manages the household, cares for their two children, and supports her husband's parents, all while her husband works in South Africa.
The El Niño-induced drought has devastated their community, leaving women like Mawere to shoulder the bulk of unpaid care work, which includes fetching water from distant boreholes, often with long queues, managing household chores and cooking with limited resources, caring for children and elderly relatives, and maintaining the household's livelihood, including farming and animal care.
This all to the fact that all this work is unrecognised and is not fairly distributed in the home setup.
Unpaid care and domestic work refer to the unpaid, often invisible, labour performed by individuals, primarily women, to care for others and manage households.
In another definition UCDW can be classified as all activities that go towards caring for a household such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, collecting water and firewood, caring for the ill, elderly, children and disabled family members, providing emotional support and companionship, managing health and medical needs, assisting with daily living activities (e.g., bathing, dressing, feeding), managing household finances and resources, maintaining a safe and healthy living environment, organizing and coordinating daily tasks and schedules for no pay.
The Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) with consortiums consisting of Oxfam Zimbabwe, Padare Men’s Forum, Bethany Trust, and the Health Law and Policy Consortium (HLPC), currently implementing the #WeCareForHer equality project with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) conducted national research on the impact of unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) on women and girls in Zimbabwe.
This research aimed to understand the effects of UCDW on the daily lives of women and girls in Zimbabwe.
The study involved Focus Group Discussions with 122 girls aged 15-19 and women aged 20 to 65 from various Zimbabwean communities, rural and urban.
These discussions, enriched by insights from activists, policymakers, and community leaders, shed light on the deep-rooted challenges they face.
The study revealed that unpaid care and domestic work significantly hinders women and girls from pursuing education and career opportunities, limiting their ability to develop the marketable skills essential for sustainable livelihoods.
The findings indicate that the burden of UCDW affects women’s and girls’ career and skills development.
The research demonstrates that unpaid care and domestic work significantly reduce the time women have available for productive work, adversely impacting their prospects for formal employment.
The findings further indicate that certain aspects of unpaid care and domestic work have significant negative impacts on women's health and well-being.
The physical demands and exposure to hazardous conditions can gravely endanger the health and life of women and girls.
With the onslaught of climate change, the load of unpaid work is growing even more, affecting women and young girls.
Interviews conducted in the Hatcliffe to understand the impact, effects, and implications of UCDW on women's and girls' daily lives highlighted the urgent need to recognise and redistribute this work within households.
Many women expressed that UCDW has caused them to miss out on employment opportunities, education, and other forms of empowerment.
A grandmother from Hatcliffe shared her struggles with household chores while caring for herself and five grandchildren.
She said:"I am a grandmother, widowed in 2008, and I stay with five grandchildren. All of them depend on me for food, upkeep, and bathing. I am struggling to put food on the table.
“All the household chores fall on me, which affects the work that brings money into the house.
“I wake up in the morning to clean the house, bathe the children, and then leave to look for odd jobs to earn money. My grandchildren are going to school because well-wishers have helped to pay the fees.
“Due to all this, my health has suffered."
Another young woman from Hatcliffe and Highfield explained how caring for her sick mother has prevented her from furthering her studies and finding a job.
She said: "I am 29 years old. My mother was involved in an accident, and since then, I dropped out of school to take care of her.
“The situation is dire because I cannot seek employment or visit other places, as my mother needs constant care, including bathing, feeding, and assistance with basic needs. I cannot leave her alone for more than two hours."
A single mother, whose husband passed away, also shared her daily routine, highlighting how UCDW impacts her life.
She said: "I am taking care of my two children. I wake up in the morning to fetch water and firewood.
“Sometimes, we have to pay for water, but I often can't afford it, so I end up getting water from unclean sources like the area dam.
“I cannot leave my young children alone for long, but to make ends meet, I must work on nearby farms. The pay is low, ranging from US$5 to US$10."
Another woman in the Highfield area shared how she wakes up around 5 am to prepare meals for her children and bathe them before going to work, a daunting task, she said.
“I wake up around 5 AM to prepare meals for my two year-old, who is attending creche, and then for my five year-old, whom I drop off at my mother’s house on my way to work.
“I clean the house and do all the household chores myself since I do not have a house help.
“I am married, but my husband doesn’t help with the household chores. It is difficult, and most of the time, I arrive at work tired and exhausted, yet I’m still expected to perform excellently,” she said.
From all the interviews conducted, it shows that unpaid care and domestic work is often provided by women and girls without receiving salary or compensation.
However, this work is not appreciated or considered as work restricting women’s opportunities to participate fully in paid employment.
Organisations such as WALPE are working with the government to ensure unpaid care and domestic work is recognized as work.
WALPE and its consortiums developed the proposed Unpaid Care and Domestic Work Bill 2024 which was shared with the Parliament of Zimbabwe to influence possible adoption and implementation.
This law aims to recognise and value of the unpaid care and domestic work that sustains communities and it is following up on its progress since it has been received in parliament of Zimbabwe.
In this Bill, WALPE recommended that “the government develop and enforce policies and legislation that promote gender equality, protect women’s rights and recognize and address the unequal distribution of unpaid care and domestic work”.
WALPE further recommended that “the government must allocate sufficient budgetary resources to improve social infrastructure, public services, and social protection measures focused on lessening the burden of UCDW”.
“Private sector must adopt progressive workplace policies to reduce and redistribute UCDW and implement family-friendly policies which promote a work-life balance,” WALPE recommended.
Women dedicate a signification portion of their day to run household duties such as cooking, cleaning, water and firewood collection, child care, or elder care.
Despite that these domestic duties are essential to a well-functioning society and economy, they are often overlooked.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has also noted that the value of unpaid domestic and care work (UCDW) and its economic and social impact are often excluded from budget planning and national policy agendas.
ILO further notes that policies that provide services, social protection, and basic infrastructure, promote the sharing of domestic and care work between men and women, and create more paid jobs in the care economy, are urgently needed to accelerate progress on women’s economic empowerment.
"As we strive for gender equality and economic justice, it's imperative that we acknowledge the immense value of unpaid care and domestic work. For far too long, these essential tasks have been overlooked and undervalued, perpetuating gender disparities and hindering social progress." read the ILO report.
*Sizalokuhle Ncube is a media and publications officer for the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE). She writes in her personal capacity.
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