Nadia Benani, Counsellor of International Cooperation Division, Embassy of Swiss Confederation in China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech
date：2023-12-26 11:39:04 hits：
The 5th Belt and Road Women’s Forum successfully convened in Sanya, Hainan from December 6-8. Co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and the UN Resident Coordinator Office in China, and jointly organized by the People’s Government of Sanya City, the China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development, and the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Women’s Forum. Nadia Benani, Counsellor of International Cooperation Division, Embassy of Swiss Confederation in China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.
Many thanks for inviting the Swiss embassy to China to participate in the 5th BRI women’s forum promoting women’s participation and contribution to the BRI.
As a woman having a career at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, at its Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and being a mother of 4 children, this session on building a family-friendly society triggered a lot of self-reflection!
All along my career, I have been asked: Ah you live abroad? What kind of job is your husband doing? And when I answer that we are here for my job, I can read a lot of confusion in the eyes of that person.
Today in my quality of head of Swiss cooperation in China, among all the challenges of promotion of gender equality and health for all, please let me reflect on one specific aspect of the nexus of Gender, Health and Family: Unpaid care work
What is unpaid care work?
Unpaid care work refers to work that contributes to meeting the basic physical and emotional needs of individuals, families and communities. It includes caring for children, elderly people and people who have fallen ill, as well as housework, preparing and cooking food, collecting firewood, fuel and water, all very important determinants of health. Care work is central to human and social well-being. Care work is often unpaid, being performed without any explicit monetary reward for one’s own family or community. These reproductive work is the basis for all other so-called productive work. Though, care work can also be paid, being carried out by nurses, domestic workers, nannies, or carer in homes for older people. Generally, care is perceived as being women’s work, whether it is paid or unpaid: Worldwide, about 75% of the world’s unpaid care work is carried out by women. The International Labour Organisation ILO estimates that 647 million persons of working age are outside the labour force due to family responsibilities. Unpaid care work constitutes the main barrier to women’s participation in labour markets. Worldwide, unpaid care is equivalent to 2 billion people working 8 hours per day with no remuneration. In countries where the ageing of the population is a concern, like in Switzerland, it is a great loss of labour force.
The unequal distribution of unpaid care work in a society is rooted in persistent gender roles and stereotypes, resulting a distinction between “male breadwinners” and “female caregivers”. It restricts women’s time and mobility as well as their equal participation in social, economic and political life. Gendered norms shape also national policies on how care work is recognised and valued, and how the responsibilities between families, governments and the private sector are distributed. For example, the availability of quality and affordable childcare services is critical for women’s access to paid work and the balance between work and family life as well as their access to social security and pension. While unpaid (non-care) work such as subsistence agriculture is included in calculations of gross domestic product (GDP) and systems of national accounts, unpaid care work, in contrast, has remained largely invisible in economic calculations, statistics, policy and political discourse. Furthermore, paid care work is mostly carried out by women. The centrality of unpaid care to sustainable development and gender equality is recognised in the Agenda 2030 (2015) (as target 5.4): “Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.”
Why analyse and address unpaid care work with a gender perspective?
The feminisation of caring responsibilities and the disproportionate time women spend on unpaid care work, as compared to men, contributes to and reinforces gender-based inequalities. Unpaid care work is a critical factor understanding structural constraints to women’s empowerment. It has direct implications on women’s ability to invest time in other economic, social and political activities, from paid employment to education, community engagement and leisure. It hampers women’s ability to build up assets, agency, skills and voice and, thus, women’s empowerment.
Opportunities for the BRI
A gender-sensitive BRI could contribute to addressing and incorporating issues related to unpaid care work:
Recognition: during the analysis and design projects, It means that it is recognised as “work”, and as something that is of value both socially and economically. It also means recognising unpaid care work as a collective responsibility among women and men, and between citizens and governments and private sector actors. By recognizing it can also be part of the objectives or co-benefit of the project.
Reduction of unpaid care work means that the time spent on unpaid care work is reduced for individual women and for society more generally. It also means reducing the drudgery of heavy and repetitive work, which can have serious physical and mental health consequences. This frees up time and energy for other activities. For example, unpaid care work would be reduced by having a clean water source closer to the house or through labour-saving technologies such as washing machines, fuel-efficient stoves, use of renewable energy for household tasks, electric grinding mill etc. The reduction of unpaid care work is often addressed through technological improvements and infrastructural development.
Redistribution of unpaid care work means that the responsibilities for unpaid care work are more fairly shared between women and men within families, among different people in communities and between families, government and private institutions. The key to redistribution is changing gender roles and stereotypes. One example of this is where male household members take on a greater share of housework and childcare, or where governments take on the responsibility to provide accessible, affordable and quality public services in the care sector, such as childcare, health services, elderly care homes, and primary education.
Let me finish with the following: Unpaid care work is one aspect among many others that reflects the need to advance gender equality. We are also in the last days of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. There is still a long way to go and it can be quite frustrating. The hit of COVID, climate change and conflicts are adding enormous challenges on reaching gender equality. But we need to also look back and see the progress that was made over the years. Previously the MDGs and now the SDG are guiding our efforts towards gender parity and women’s empowerment. My office in Beijing is available to further discuss the various issues of gender worldwide. To address global challenges we need global efforts and global cooperation. Thank you.
The theme of the forum, ‘She Power: Jointly Building and Sharing a Beautiful Life,’ reflects a focus on women’s unique contributions and empowerment within the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. Organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and the All-China Youth Federation, along with the People’s Government of Sanya City leadership, the forum brought together over 400 participants. These included the First Lady of Guyana, representatives from the United Nations, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine, and ambassadors from Kyrgyzstan, Zambia, Maldives, Switzerland, Nepal, Guyana, Uganda, Mozambique, and various other countries, along with national and international business representatives.
During the forum, in-depth discussions and exchanges took place around the theme. Guests shared insights on the distinctive role played by women in the ten years since the Belt and Road Initiative was launched. They highlighted the substantial achievements of women and looked forward to the future of the initiative, advocating for women’s empowerment to foster common development and prosperity in human society.
2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Women’s Forum has been instrumental in showcasing the unique role of women in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting comprehensive and sustainable development for women, and enhancing people-to-people connections among the participating countries. The forum has successfully established a platform for communication and collaboration among women across the Belt and Road countries, building bridges for mutual understanding and cooperation.
Nadia Benani, Counsellor of International Cooperation Division, Embassy of Swiss Confederation in China, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech
Many thanks for inviting the Swiss embassy to China to participate in the 5th BRI women’s forum promoting women’s participation and contribution to the BRI.
As a woman having a career at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, at its Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and being a mother of 4 children, this session on building a family-friendly society triggered a lot of self-reflection!
All along my career, I have been asked: Ah you live abroad? What kind of job is your husband doing? And when I answer that we are here for my job, I can read a lot of confusion in the eyes of that person.
Today in my quality of head of Swiss cooperation in China, among all the challenges of promotion of gender equality and health for all, please let me reflect on one specific aspect of the nexus of Gender, Health and Family: Unpaid care work
What is unpaid care work?
Unpaid care work refers to work that contributes to meeting the basic physical and emotional needs of individuals, families and communities. It includes caring for children, elderly people and people who have fallen ill, as well as housework, preparing and cooking food, collecting firewood, fuel and water, all very important determinants of health. Care work is central to human and social well-being. Care work is often unpaid, being performed without any explicit monetary reward for one’s own family or community. These reproductive work is the basis for all other so-called productive work. Though, care work can also be paid, being carried out by nurses, domestic workers, nannies, or carer in homes for older people. Generally, care is perceived as being women’s work, whether it is paid or unpaid: Worldwide, about 75% of the world’s unpaid care work is carried out by women. The International Labour Organisation ILO estimates that 647 million persons of working age are outside the labour force due to family responsibilities. Unpaid care work constitutes the main barrier to women’s participation in labour markets. Worldwide, unpaid care is equivalent to 2 billion people working 8 hours per day with no remuneration. In countries where the ageing of the population is a concern, like in Switzerland, it is a great loss of labour force.
The unequal distribution of unpaid care work in a society is rooted in persistent gender roles and stereotypes, resulting a distinction between “male breadwinners” and “female caregivers”. It restricts women’s time and mobility as well as their equal participation in social, economic and political life. Gendered norms shape also national policies on how care work is recognised and valued, and how the responsibilities between families, governments and the private sector are distributed. For example, the availability of quality and affordable childcare services is critical for women’s access to paid work and the balance between work and family life as well as their access to social security and pension. While unpaid (non-care) work such as subsistence agriculture is included in calculations of gross domestic product (GDP) and systems of national accounts, unpaid care work, in contrast, has remained largely invisible in economic calculations, statistics, policy and political discourse. Furthermore, paid care work is mostly carried out by women. The centrality of unpaid care to sustainable development and gender equality is recognised in the Agenda 2030 (2015) (as target 5.4): “Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as nationally appropriate.”
Why analyse and address unpaid care work with a gender perspective?
The feminisation of caring responsibilities and the disproportionate time women spend on unpaid care work, as compared to men, contributes to and reinforces gender-based inequalities. Unpaid care work is a critical factor understanding structural constraints to women’s empowerment. It has direct implications on women’s ability to invest time in other economic, social and political activities, from paid employment to education, community engagement and leisure. It hampers women’s ability to build up assets, agency, skills and voice and, thus, women’s empowerment.
Opportunities for the BRI
A gender-sensitive BRI could contribute to addressing and incorporating issues related to unpaid care work:
Recognition: during the analysis and design projects, It means that it is recognised as “work”, and as something that is of value both socially and economically. It also means recognising unpaid care work as a collective responsibility among women and men, and between citizens and governments and private sector actors. By recognizing it can also be part of the objectives or co-benefit of the project.
Reduction of unpaid care work means that the time spent on unpaid care work is reduced for individual women and for society more generally. It also means reducing the drudgery of heavy and repetitive work, which can have serious physical and mental health consequences. This frees up time and energy for other activities. For example, unpaid care work would be reduced by having a clean water source closer to the house or through labour-saving technologies such as washing machines, fuel-efficient stoves, use of renewable energy for household tasks, electric grinding mill etc. The reduction of unpaid care work is often addressed through technological improvements and infrastructural development.
Redistribution of unpaid care work means that the responsibilities for unpaid care work are more fairly shared between women and men within families, among different people in communities and between families, government and private institutions. The key to redistribution is changing gender roles and stereotypes. One example of this is where male household members take on a greater share of housework and childcare, or where governments take on the responsibility to provide accessible, affordable and quality public services in the care sector, such as childcare, health services, elderly care homes, and primary education.
Let me finish with the following: Unpaid care work is one aspect among many others that reflects the need to advance gender equality. We are also in the last days of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. There is still a long way to go and it can be quite frustrating. The hit of COVID, climate change and conflicts are adding enormous challenges on reaching gender equality. But we need to also look back and see the progress that was made over the years. Previously the MDGs and now the SDG are guiding our efforts towards gender parity and women’s empowerment. My office in Beijing is available to further discuss the various issues of gender worldwide. To address global challenges we need global efforts and global cooperation. Thank you.
The theme of the forum, ‘She Power: Jointly Building and Sharing a Beautiful Life,’ reflects a focus on women’s unique contributions and empowerment within the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. Organized by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and the All-China Youth Federation, along with the People’s Government of Sanya City leadership, the forum brought together over 400 participants. These included the First Lady of Guyana, representatives from the United Nations, Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine, and ambassadors from Kyrgyzstan, Zambia, Maldives, Switzerland, Nepal, Guyana, Uganda, Mozambique, and various other countries, along with national and international business representatives.
During the forum, in-depth discussions and exchanges took place around the theme. Guests shared insights on the distinctive role played by women in the ten years since the Belt and Road Initiative was launched. They highlighted the substantial achievements of women and looked forward to the future of the initiative, advocating for women’s empowerment to foster common development and prosperity in human society.
2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Women’s Forum has been instrumental in showcasing the unique role of women in the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting comprehensive and sustainable development for women, and enhancing people-to-people connections among the participating countries. The forum has successfully established a platform for communication and collaboration among women across the Belt and Road countries, building bridges for mutual understanding and cooperation.