Philippines Women Workers push for care as a public good at ILC

As the 2024 International Labor Conference opens, Philippine Women Workers are emphasizing the critical role of care work as a public good essential to all societies. They assert the necessity of recognizing the immense social and economic value of care work, alongside the human right to both provide and receive care throughout our lives. Central to their position is the call for a rights-based and gender-transformative approach to reorganizing care, which is crucial for achieving gender equality, sustainable development, and social justice. They highlight the importance of redistributing unpaid care work from households to public care services and reaffirm the government's fundamental role in funding, providing, and regulating these services. Ensuring that care systems are free, accessible, and of high quality, staffed by well-trained, adequately paid, and supported care workers, is a priority.

The advocacy extends to ensuring decent work conditions for all care workers, irrespective of their sector, economy, or migrant status. The call to action includes securing fundamental labor rights, such as freedom of association and collective bargaining, providing social protection, and safeguarding workers from violence and harassment. The recognition of community health workers and volunteers as public health workers entitled to decent work conditions, including living wages and security of tenure, is emphasized. The position paper also addresses the systemic issue of the patriarchal gender division of labor, advocating for structural changes to dismantle patriarchy and promote gender equality. The need for governments to develop integrated care policies, invest in the professional development of care workers, and ensure fair and progressive financing for public care services is emphasised, alongside the imperative to address the vulnerabilities of migrant care workers and the overburdened global healthcare systems.

This comprehensive approach aims to mainstream care into various policy areas, ensuring a just and equitable society for all.