SDG #5 is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
Within SDG #5 are 9 targets, of which we here focus on 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
Target 5.4 has one indicator:
Indicator 5.4.1: Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location
Unemployed individuals, or those performing unpaid work, are seldom recognised for their contribution. They’re underutilised in the use of their time from an economic and social perspective. This has relevance when considering gender across the globe.
Many countries don’t have data for this indicator. Of the countries with data, the biggest disparity between the sexes in time spent on unpaid work is Mexico. In 2022, Mexican men spent 11% of their time each day on unpaid work, and women 27%. Indicator 5.4.1 asks of us to disaggregate the data by location. To separate Mexico’s 2019 data, 30% of the time of rural women was unpaid work compared to 26% for urban women. Rural men spent 10% of their time on unpaid work, and 11% for urban men in Mexico.
