A toolkit on paid and unpaid care work: From 3Rs to 5Rs

The toolkit on paid and unpaid care work serves as an introductory reference, or “how-to guide,” for those working on care as a means to achieve gender equality, the empowerment of women and girls, and the Sustainable Development Goals and to promote the rights and wellbeing of care providers and recipients, be they children, older persons, or persons with illness or disabilities.

It is tailored to actors who are just getting started in this field or hoping to learn more about the multiple, intersecting aspects of paid and unpaid care work.

This toolkit builds on the original "Toolkit on recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid work and care," a product of the 2017 UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.

This updated toolkit follows the International Labour Organization’s “5R framework for decent care work”: Recognize, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work, and reward and represent paid care work by promoting decent work for care workers and guaranteeing their representation, social dialogue, and collective bargaining.

It additionally contextualizes care in a dynamic global environment where providers and recipients of care and domestic work are subjected to crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflict and identifyies resources that offer comprehensive solutions and learning relevant to each "R".