Investing in care, investing in women

Join the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL), in partnership with Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government, for the launch of a landmark report on the future of care in Southeast Asia.

Globally, unpaid care keeps around 708 million women out of the labour market, with women performing two and a half times more unpaid care than men. Revaluing and better supporting care could unlock huge benefits: boosting women’s workforce participation, creating millions of decent jobs, and driving economic growth. So, as demand for childcare, aged care, and disability care rises, how can countries design care systems that are fair, sustainable, and inclusive?

This study explores that question in three countries that are critical players in the global care workforce – Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam – looking ahead 25 years to how care demand will shift and how smart public and private investment can both meet needs and advance gender equality.

Led by GIWL with in-country expertise from the SMERU Research Institute in Indonesia, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), and the Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI) in Vietnam, the research outlines the current landscape of the care economy across these three countries and highlights transformative solutions for change towards a system where care is fairly valued and equally shared.

Join experts from GIWL, SMERU, PIDS, and MDRI for insights and discussion on how Southeast Asia can create stronger, more equitable care systems that benefit families, societies, and economies alike.