Measuring women’s paid and unpaid care work under ICLS 19

Topic: Women’s Economic Empowerment
Type: Policy Brief
Author: data, International Labour Organization Date: September 2018

Why did the definitions of work and employment change and why is this change important for women?

For a long time, we’ve thought of the labor market as segmented in three ways: individuals were employed, unemployed, or inactive.

In 2013, the 19th International Conference of Labor Statisticians agreed that these categories failed to accurately capture all the ways that individuals engage with the economy and labor market, so they agreed upon the first international statistical definition of ‘work’. 

This new definition is important for understanding all of the paid and unpaid activities women are involved in, painting a more accurate of their experiences. 

This policy brief outlines:

  • Why the definitions of work and employment changed
  • What this change means for women
  • What implications this change has for policy
  • What implications this change has for data
  • How data producers and policymakers can work together.

Read the policy brief here.

Stay in touch. Sign up for gender data updates.