LIU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 46: Henvendelse af 23/1-2020 fra Oxfam IBIS om deres årlige rapport om ulighed, der i år har fokus på køn og med titlen: "Time to care - unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis"

Ligestillingsudvalget 2019-20
LIU Alm.del Bilag 46
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Time to care

Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global

inequality crisis

Summary

LIU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 46: Henvendelse af 23/1-2020 fra Oxfam IBIS om deres årlige rapport om ulighed, der i år har fokus på køn og med titlen: "Time to care - unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis"

OXFAM SUMMARY – JANUARY 2020

Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only

2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people. This great divide is

based on a flawed and sexist economic system that values the wealth of

the privileged few, mostly men, more than the billions of hours of the most

essential work – the unpaid and underpaid care work done primarily by women

and girls around the world. Tending to others, cooking, cleaning, fetching

water and firewood are essential daily tasks for the wellbeing of societies,

communities and the functioning of the economy. The heavy and unequal

responsibility of care work perpetuates gender and economic inequalities.

This has to change. Governments around the world must act now to build a

human economy that is feminist and values what truly matters to society, rather

than fuelling an endless pursuit of profit and wealth. Investing in national care

systems to address the disproportionate responsibility for care work done by

women and girls and introducing progressive taxation, including taxing wealth

and legislating in favour of carers, are possible and crucial first steps.

This paper was written by Max Lawson, Anam Parvez Butt, Rowan Harvey,

Diana Sarosi, Clare Coffey, Kim Piaget and Julie Thekkudan.

The authors are grateful to a range of experts who generously gave their assistance:

the Women’s Budget Group, Corina Rodriguez and Florencia Partenio of Development

Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) global network, Salimah Valiani,

FEMNET, Danny Dorling, Christoph Lakner, Jonathan Ostry and Branko Milanovic.

Oxfam acknowledges the assistance of Charlotte Becker, Ranu Bhogal, Kira Boe,

Rosa Maria Cañete, Rukia Cornelius, Anna Coryndon, Katha Down, Ellen Ehmke,

Patricia Espinoza Revollo, Tim Gore, Irene Guijt, Victoria Harnett, Emma Holten,

Didier Jacobs, Anthony Kamande, Thalia Kidder, Inigo Macias Aymar, Franziska

Mager, Jessica McQuail, Alex Maitland, Katie Malouf Bous, Liliana Marcos Barba,

Valentina Montanaro, Joab Okanda, Quentin Parrinello, Oliver Pearce, Lucy Peers,

Kimberly Pfeifer, Angela Picciariello, Anna Ratcliffe, Lucia Rost, Susana Ruiz,

Alberto Sanz Martins, Emma Seery, Rocio Stevens Villalvazo, Annie Thériault,

David Wilson and Deepak Xavier in its production. The paper is part of a series

written to inform public debate on development and humanitarian policy issues.

For further information on the issues raised in this paper please email

[email protected]

This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the purposes

of advocacy, campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is

acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that all such use be registered

with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances,

or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, permission must

be secured and a fee may be charged. E-mail [email protected].

The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.

Published by Oxfam GB for Oxfam International under ISBN 978-1-78748-542-6

in January 2020. DOI: 10.21201/2020.5419

Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK.

Cover photo: Clarice Akinyi washes clothes in Mashimoni village, Nairobi, Kenya.

Clarice is proud to be a domestic worker but was frustrated and angry at the bad

treatment by employers. Clarice is now an active member of the Wezesha Jamii

project, in which women work together to support each other and improve their

community. Photo: Katie G. Nelson/Oxfam (2017)

forewords

My name is Rowena and I am a day care worker from Salcedo Town

in the Philippines.

In the past in my community, women used to just work in the house –

cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. They also fetched

water. Men had more opportunities than women. With all the work that

was assigned to women, we could never catch up with the men in our

community. There would always be a gap between women and men –

with the amount of money they earned, with the education they got

or with the time they could spend on things outside the house.

I’ve been a day care worker in a school for ten years. And I’m also a

housewife. Being a housewife takes so much time. I have so many things

to do that I can’t finish right away. The heaviest housework is fetching

water. It takes us three to four hours to go and get water because our

water source is far. We have to go to the river and lift our own water cans.

In the past, my husband didn’t help in the household at all. It was a lot of

work that I had to do on top of what I did in the school, but my husband and

I didn’t question it. That changed when we started to attend trainings and

seminars and learned about unpaid care work. Now he always helps around

the house. He helps me do the housework, like cooking, doing the laundry,

and cleaning the house, especially when I am working in the school.

We also have water tanks now through the help of Oxfam and SIKAT*.

We finally have taps and a hose, so we don’t have to carry water cans and

pails anymore. We spend less time fetching water now. While we wait for

the water to fill our water cans and drums, we can focus on other work.

Not being responsible for all the work alone or having to walk long hours

to get the water we need, changes who I am. I have more time to help in

the community. We have a Self-Help Group, a group for women who live

near each other. We help in

barangay

(village) clean-up drives, and in

other activities where women are involved in the community. It’s where

we also get funding for our livelihood, for the school fees of our children

and for emergencies.

There are many communities where women are still struggling a lot. I am

happy that now there is equality here between women and men. Women

are more empowered. Someday I hope this will happen not just here in

Salcedo, but hopefully in the whole Philippines.

* SIKAT – Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya –

is a non-profit, non-government organization in the Philippines. It envisions

empowered, sustainable and resilient coastal communities that call for

transparent, accountable, participatory and responsive government programmes

and processes. With the WE-Care programme, SIKAT works with women-led

self-help groups and men to mobilize community members in disaster

preparedness and economic empowerment.

ROWENA ABEO,

DAY CARE WORKER,

SALCEDO TOWN,

EASTERN SAMAR,

PHILIPPINES

S UMM A RY

It is a well-known fact that despite being the backbone of informal

workers’ families, the poorest of poor in the world are women workers.

The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which I serve, is the

largest trade union of poor informal sector women workers in India, with

a membership of more than 1.9 million women workers. SEWA strongly

believes that poverty is the worst form of violence perpetrated with the

consent of society. Only work, a steady source of employment, and asset

ownership can reduce this violence.

From SEWA’s experience working with these poor women workers from

the informal sector, we have learned that for these women workers,

access to care-services is a basic right. If women do not have access to

affordable care services, they have to shoulder the care responsibilities

of the family, and either reduce their number of work hours and thus

income or entrust the elder children with this responsibility – thereby

compromising their education. Our founder Ela Bhatt said: ‘Women should

be paid full-time wages, even if they work part-time.’ Only then can one

break women’s fall into starker poverty.

REEMA NANAVATY,

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

SELF-EMPLOYED

WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION

(SEWA)

In our experience, poor women workers do not only contribute to their

family and national economy, but also to natural ecology. Therefore,

SEWA believes that care work should be considered as skilled work and

paid at par with other skilled work. Organizing care workers, building their

capacity, designing proper curriculum and training to improve the quality

of their services, certification and enabling policies for care givers would

bring dignity and self-respect to these workers, and also set standards

for the care economy. And this should not start from the top down, but

from the care worker herself.

However, we also believe that care services should not replace family

care, especially in the informal sector, because informal sector workers

often work as a family. Family and care cannot be completely segregated.

There is a need to establish this delicate balance.

Never have we faced such an opportunity for welcoming and valuing the

work of millions of care workers in the mainstream economy, be it formal

or informal. Oxfam’s report ‘Time to Care’ shows us the nature and extent

of this opportunity. And if we grab it, we will all move closer to what SEWA

calls ‘Building an Economy of Nurturance’ – a society where economic

growth is non-violent.

TIME TO CARE

People sometimes call me a ‘self-made’ multi-millionaire. Nothing could

be further from the truth. Yes, I have worked hard in my life. I am proud of

what I have achieved. But the truth is I could not have done any of this

without help from the Danish welfare system, and the taxes paid by the

people to create our happy and equal society.

I was born in Tehran, Iran in 1961. My family moved to Denmark when I

was a child, after a series of rejected immigration applications, forced

separations and the turmoil in my birth country pushed my family to our

limits. I finished my education here, married a Danish woman and had two

amazing children, and built my fortune as a self-employed entrepreneur.

I credit my good fortune to Denmark and its robust, inclusive social

system that values equality and opportunity for everyone. My country

has embraced an advanced social tax system and the tax revenues

are used to invest in the people of Denmark. Our tax revenues give

everyone health, education and a strong social support system,

including universal childcare.

DJAFFAR SHALCHI,

FOUNDER AND CHAIR

OF THE BOARD, HUMAN

ACT FOUNDATION

It is quite simple. If we want fairer, more equal and happier societies,

then the richest have to pay their fair share of tax. When a billionaire

is paying a lower rate of tax than their secretary, something is deeply

wrong with society.

I think it is not surprising that some are calling for the abolition of

billionaires. They see that these super-rich people think that there

is one rule for them, and another for ordinary people.

We must tax wealth properly. The rich must pay their fair share of tax.

Just a 1% tax on billionaire wealth for example could raise billions

to fight global poverty and reduce inequality.

Are we prepared to build a fair society in which wealth and power –

including political power – are evenly distributed? Are we ready to resist

the myth that poverty is a natural phenomenon – something that will

always be there – no matter what we do?

These are the most important questions of our time. Oxfam’s report

‘Time to Care’ addresses these questions and shows that with the right

political decisions inequality and poverty can be tackled. Together we

must fight economic inequality, structural violence, discrimination and

exclusion, environmental destruction and despotic ideology so that the

future of our world looks brighter for all of us. There is no time to lose,

time is running out.

S UMM A RY

Time to Care

The world’s billionaires, only

2,153 people

in 2019, have more

wealth between them than

4.6 billion people.

The combined wealth of the world’s

22 richest men is more than the

wealth of all the women in Africa.

The world’s

richest 1%

have

more than twice as much wealth

6.9 billion people.

If you saved $10,000 a day since the

building of the pyramids in Egypt you

would have only one-fifth the average

fortune of the 5 richest billionaires.

The monetary value of

unpaid

care work

globally for women aged

15 and over is at least $10.8 trillion

annually –three times the size of

the world’s

tech industry.

Taxing an additional 0.5% of the wealth

of the richest 1% over the next 10 years

is equal to investments needed to create:

117 million jobs

in education, health and elderly care

and other sectors, and to close

care deficits.

TIME TO CARE

SUMMARY

A tale of two extremes

Economic inequality is out of control. In 2019, the world’s billionaires,

only 2,153 people, had more wealth than 4.6 billion people.

The

richest 22 men in the world own more wealth than all the women

in Africa.

These extremes of wealth exist alongside great poverty.

New World Bank estimates show that almost half of the world’s

population live on less than $5.50 a day, and the rate of poverty

reduction has halved since 2013.

This great divide is based on a flawed and sexist economic system.

This broken economic model has accumulated vast wealth and power

into the hands of a rich few, in part by exploiting the labour of women

and girls, and systematically violating their rights.

At the top of the global economy a small elite are unimaginably rich.

Their wealth grows exponentially over time, with little effort and

regardless of whether they add value to society.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the economy, women and girls, especially

women and girls living in poverty and from marginalized groups, are

putting in 12.5 billion hours every day of care work for free,

and countless

more for poverty wages. Their work is essential to our communities.

It underpins thriving families and a healthy and productive workforce.

Oxfam has calculated that this work adds value to the economy of at

least $10.8 trillion.

This figure, while huge, is an underestimate, and the

true figure is far higher. Yet most of the financial benefits accrue to the

richest, the majority of whom are men. This unjust system exploits and

marginalizes the poorest women and girls, while increasing the wealth

and power of a rich elite.

Without decisive action things will get far worse. Ageing populations,

cuts in public spending, and climate change threaten to exacerbate

further gender and economic inequality, and to fuel a spiralling crisis

for care and carers. While the rich and powerful elite may be able

to buy their way out of facing the worst of these crises, the poor

and powerless will not.

Governments must take bold and decisive action to build a new,

human economy that will deliver for everyone rather than a rich few,

and that values care and wellbeing above profit and wealth.

IN 2019, THE WORLD’S

BILLIONAIRES, ONLY

2,153 PEOPLE, HAD

MORE WEALTH THAN

4.6 BILLION PEOPLE.

CARE WORK IS

ESSENTIAL TO OUR

COMMUNITIES.

IT UNDERPINS

THRIVING FAMILIES

AND A HEALTHY

AND PRODUCTIVE

WORKFORCE.

S UMM A RY

The scale of the gap between rich and poor today

A woman rides a

scooter through

a low-income

neighbourhood

that is surrounded

by upscale

developments on

the outskirts of

Ho Chi Minh City,

Vietnam. Photo:

Sam Tarling/Oxfam

(2017)

The gap between the super-rich and the rest of society remains

unimaginably huge.

In 2019, the world’s billionaires, only 2,153 people, have more

wealth than 4.6 billion people.

The 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa.

The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth

as 6.9 billion people.

If you saved $10,000 a day since the building of the pyramids

in Egypt you would have one-fifth the average fortune of the

5 richest billionaires.

If everyone were to sit on their wealth piled up in $100 bills, most

of humanity would be sitting on the floor. A middle-class person

in a rich country would be sitting at the height of a chair. The

world’s two richest men would be sitting in outer space.

The monetary value of women’s unpaid care work globally,

for women aged 15 and over, is at least $10.8 trillion annually –

three times the size of the world’s tech industry.

Taxing an additional 0.5% of the wealth of the richest 1% over the

next 10 years is equal to investments needed to create 117 million

jobs in education, health and elderly care and other sectors,

and to close care deficits.

TIME TO CARE

BOX 1

Measuring

wealth

inequality

in the world

When highlighting the extent of global economic inequality, Oxfam

focuses primarily on wealth inequality, because it fuels the capture

of power and politics and perpetuates inequality across generations.

In compiling the facts on economic inequality

for our annual reports

Oxfam’s wealth analysis makes use of the Credit Suisse Global Wealth

report, as it is the most comprehensive dataset of global wealth

distribution.

Collecting figures on wealth is very difficult due to

the poor quality of much of the data. It is widely felt that the data

used by Credit Suisse and others to estimate wealth systematically

underestimates the true scale of wealth.

There is an urgent need for much greater investment in wealth and wealth

inequality data collection, so that every country can understand the true

scale of the inequality crisis and can measure progress in tackling it.

Leaders are failing to act, people are taking to the streets

Despite much handwringing about the divide between rich and poor,

and the evidence of its corrosive effects, most world leaders are still

pursuing policy agendas that drive a greater gap between the haves

and the have nots. Strongman

leaders like President Trump in the US,

and President Bolsonaro in Brazil, are exemplars of this trend. They are

offering policies like tax cuts for billionaires,

obstructing measures

to tackle the climate emergency, or turbo-charging racism,

sexism

and hatred of minorities.

Faced with leaders like these, people everywhere are coming together

to say enough is enough. From Chile to Germany, protests against

inequality and climate chaos are huge. Millions are taking to the streets

and risking their lives to demand an end to extreme inequality and

demand a fairer, greener world.

Below: Naima Hammami, the first

woman elected to the executive board

of the National Trade Union Centre

of Tunisia (Union Générale Tunisienne

du Travail – UGTT), celebrating with

colleagues. The Women Commission

of the UGTT works on the participation

of women in public and political

space and the rights of women in

the MENA region. Photo: Ons Abid/

Oxfam Novib (2017)

S UMM A RY

The view from the top: all pay and no work

The very top of the economic pyramid sees trillions of dollars of wealth

in the hands of a very small group of people, predominantly men.

Their wealth is already extreme, and our broken economy concentrates

more and more wealth into these few hands.

Recently some commentators have asked whether it would be better

for the world to ‘abolish billionaires’,

suggesting that they are a

sign of economic sickness rather than economic health. It has been

estimated that one-third of billionaire wealth exists because of

inheritance.

Such levels of inheritance have created a new aristocracy

that undermines democracy.

Once secured, the fortunes of the super-rich take on a momentum

of their own; the wealthiest people can simply sit back and watch their

wealth grow over time, with the help of highly paid accountants who

have delivered them an average annual return of 7.4% on their wealth

over the last ten years.

Despite admirably committing to give his money

away, Bill Gates is still worth nearly $100bn, which is twice what he

had when he stood down as head of Microsoft.

One reason for these outsized returns is a collapse in taxation of the

super-rich and the biggest corporations because of falling tax rates and

deliberate tax dodging. At the same time, only 4% of global tax comes from

taxation of wealth,

and studies show that the super-rich avoid as much

as 30% of their tax liability.

Extremely low corporate taxation helps them

cream the profits from companies where they are the main shareholders;

between 2011 and 2017 average wages in G7 countries increased by 3%,

while dividends to wealthy shareholders grew by 31%.

ONLY 4% OF

GLOBAL TAX COMES

FROM TAXATION

OF WEALTH.

FIGURE 2: RETURNS TO RICH SHAREHOLDERS COMPARED WITH AVERAGE WAGES

GROWTH BETWEEN 2011 AND 2017

Average wages in G7 countries

Dividends to wealthy shareholders

31%

Today’s extreme wealth is also founded on sexism. Our economic system

was built by rich and powerful men, who continue to make the rules

and reap the lion’s share of the benefit. Worldwide, men own 50% more

wealth than women.

Men also predominate in positions of political

and economic power; just 18% of ministers and 24% of parliamentarians

globally are women, and they occupy an estimated 34% of managerial

positions in the countries where data is available.

TIME TO CARE

FIGURE 3: THE WORLD’S ECONOMIES REWARD MEN MORE THAN WOMEN

Worldwide, men own 50%

more wealth than women.

On average, globally, 18% of government ministers

and 24% of parliamentarians are women. As a result,

women are often excluded from decision making.

Goverment ministers

Parliamentarians

Women are supporting the market economy with cheap and free labour

and they are also supporting the state by providing care that should be

provided by the public sector.

Oxfam has calculated that women’s unpaid

care work alone is adding value to the economy to the tune of at least

$10.8 trillion a year, a figure three times larger than the tech industry.

This figure, while huge, is an underestimate; because of data availability

it uses the minimum wage and not a living wage, and it does not take

account of the broader value to society of care work and how our economy

would grind to a halt without this support. Were it possible to put a figure

on this support, the total value of unpaid care work would be even higher.

What is clear is that this unpaid work is fuelling a sexist economic system

that takes from the many and puts money in the pockets of the few.

WOMEN’S

UNPAID CARE WORK

ALONE IS ADDING

VALUE TO THE

ECONOMY OF AT LEAST

$10.8 TRILLION

A YEAR.

Lan works in a factory and has two other jobs in Dong

Nai province, Vietnam. Her low wages and high cost

of living mean that she can’t afford for her children

to live with her full time, and relies on her parents

to take care of them while she is away working.

Photo: Sam Tarling/Oxfam (2017)

S UMM A RY

The view from the bottom: all work

and no pay

Nearly half the world is trying to survive on $5.50 a day or less,

according to new figures from the World Bank. Many people are just

one hospital bill or failed harvest away from destitution. Inequality

is one of the major reasons for this; a huge share of global income

growth consistently accrues to those at the top, leaving those at the

bottom further and further behind. Thomas Piketty and his team have

shown that between 1980 and 2016, the richest 1% received 27 cents

of each dollar of global income growth.

This was more than twice the

share of the bottom 50%, who secured only 12 cents of every dollar.

27 28

If the economic system is left to distribute the fruits of growth

so unevenly, we will never eliminate poverty.

Unequal and unbridled

growth is also unsustainable and makes it impossible to live within

the environmental boundaries of our planet.

Economic inequality is also built on gender inequality, and the majority

of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid are women. Women

and girls are more likely to be found in poorly paid and precarious

employment, and they do the bulk of unpaid and underpaid care work.

The dominant model of capitalism actively exploits and drives traditional

sexist beliefs that disempower women and girls,

counting on them

to do this work, but refusing to value them for it.

MANY PEOPLE ARE

JUST ONE HOSPITAL

BILL OR FAILED

HARVEST AWAY FROM

DESTITUTION.

ECONOMIC

INEQUALITY IS ALSO

BUILT ON GENDER

INEQUALITY.

Shienna Cabus and her daughter

collect water from a local water

source in Eastern Samar,

Philippines. They use a cart to

transport the heavy load home.

Shienna is a member of the

Bangon Pangdan Self-Help

Association. Photo: Aurelie

Marrier d’Unienville/Oxfam (2017)

TIME TO CARE

Understanding who cares

Care work is crucial to our societies and to the economy. It includes

looking after children, elderly people, and those with physical and

mental illnesses and disabilities, as well as daily domestic work like

cooking, cleaning, washing, mending, and fetching water and firewood.

Without someone investing time, effort and resources in these

essential daily tasks, communities, workplaces, and whole economies

would grind to a halt.

Across the world unpaid and underpaid care work is disproportionately

done by poor women and girls, especially those from groups who, as

well as gender discrimination, experience discrimination based on race,

ethnicity, nationality, sexuality and caste.

Women undertake more

than three-quarters of unpaid care and make up two-thirds of the paid

care workforce.

WITHOUT SOMEONE

INVESTING TIME,

EFFORT AND

RESOURCES IN THESE

ESSENTIAL DAILY

TASKS, COMMUNITIES,

WORKPLACES,

AND WHOLE

ECONOMIES WOULD

GRIND TO A HALT.

FIGURE 4: THE HEAVY AND UNEQUAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR UNPAID

CARE WORK FALLING ON WOMEN AND GIRLS

Women

Men

The gap in income poverty between women

and men increases during women’s peak

productive and reproductive ages.

Time

poverty increases the gender gap further.

Women in rural communities and low-income

countries spend up to 14 hours a day on

unpaid care work, which is five times more

than men do in such communities.

EXTREME

POVERTY

RATES

22%

HOURS PER DAY

Globally, 42% of women of working age

are outside the paid labour force,

compared with 6% of men, because of

unpaid care responsibilities.

Girls who undertake a large amount

of unpaid care work have lower

rates of school attendance than

other girls.

S UMM A RY

As well as doing care work for free at home, many poor women also work

providing care for others, for example as domestic workers,

who are

among the most exploited workers in the world. Just 10% of domestic

workers are covered by general labour laws to the same extent as other

workers,

and only around half enjoy equal minimum wage protection.

More than half of all domestic workers have no limits on work hours

under national law.

In the most extreme cases of forced labour and

trafficking, domestic workers find themselves trapped in people’s homes

with every aspect of their lives controlled, rendering them invisible and

unprotected.

It is estimated that globally, the 3.4 million domestic

workers in forced labour are being robbed of $8bn every year, equating

to 60% of their due wages.

FIGURE 5: DOMESTIC WORKERS – AMONG THE MOST EXPLOITED WORKERS IN THE WORLD

Of the estimated 67 million domestic

workers worldwide, 80% are women.

Only 1 in 10 domestic workers have

equal protection in labour laws compared

with other workers.

Around 50% of domestic workers lack

minimum wage protection and more than

50% of domestic workers have no legal

limits on their work hours.

An estimated 90% of domestic workers

have no access to social security

(e.g. maternity protection and benefits)

90%

no minimum

wage

no legal

limits

no SOCIAL

SECURITY

BOX 2

Abuse of

domestic

workers

‘Regina’ (not her real name) was trafficked to the UK by a rich employer to

work in their private household. Regina explained that once she arrived in

London she was made to work from 6am to 11pm every day in the employers’

smart central London apartment. She was not paid at all during her time there

and was not allowed to contact her family or to speak to people outside of

her employers’ household. She slept in the laundry room and ate leftovers.

Her passport was taken from her and she described being regularly verbally

abused by her employers, who would call her ‘stupid’ and ‘useless’.

TIME TO CARE

Catalina Sántiz puts

firewood into the oven

before cooking. Yocwitz,

Chiapas, Mexico.

Photo: Martiza Lavin

The heavy and unequal responsibility of care work perpetuates gender

and economic inequalities. It undermines the health and wellbeing of

predominantly female care workers and limits their economic prosperity

by fuelling gender gaps in employment and wages. It also leaves women

and girls time-poor, unable to meet their basic needs or to participate in

social and political activities. For example, in Bolivia, 42% of women say

that care work is the biggest obstacle to their political participation.

BOX 3

Time poverty

in India: ‘I have

no time, not

even to die’

Buchhu Devi gets up at 3am to cook, clean and prepare breakfast

and lunch for her family. There is a well nearby, but as a Dalit from the

lowest caste she is not allowed to use it, and instead has to travel

3 km to collect water. She does this three times a day. She says she

works at a road construction site from 8am till 5pm, and then has to

perform her evening household duties of fetching water and fuel wood,

washing, cooking, cleaning the house, and helping her children with

their studies. Her day ends at midnight. If she fails to fetch wood the

family cannot eat, and she is often beaten up for this by her husband.

She says, ‘I have no time, not even time to die for they will all curse…

Who will look after them and bring money to the family when I’m gone?’

Source: D. Dutta (2019). ‘No Work is Easy! Notes from the Field on Unpaid Care

Work for Women’ in Mind the Gap: The State of Employment in India 2019. Oxfam

India. https://www.oxfamindia.org/Mind-Gap-State-of-Employment-in-India

Even though it lays the foundation for a thriving society, unpaid and

underpaid care work is fundamentally invisible. It both perpetuates and

is perpetuated by economic and gender inequality. Care work is radically

undervalued and taken for granted by governments and businesses. It is

often treated as ‘non-work’, with spending on it treated as a cost rather

than an investment, leading to care being rendered invisible in measures

of economic progress and policy agendas.

S UMM A RY

The looming care crisis

The world is facing a care crisis due to the impacts of an ageing

population, cuts to public services and social protection systems,

and the effects of climate change – threatening to make it worse

and increase the burden on care workers.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that there will

be an extra 100 million older people and an additional 100 million children

aged 6 to 14 years needing care by 2030.

Elderly people will need more

acute and long-term care as they age

from healthcare systems that are

ill-prepared to support them.

FIGURE 6: THE LOOMING CARE CRISIS

By 2030 there will be an estimated extra:

By 2025 up to

100

million

older people

100

million

children 6–14 years

2.4 billion

people

WORLDWIDE

could be living in areas without enough water

as a result of climate change. Many women and

girls will have to walk further to find water.

needing care globally.

Rather than ramping up social programmes and spending to invest in care

and tackle inequality, countries are increasing taxation on poor people,

reducing public spending and privatizing education and health, often

following the advice of financial institutions such as the International

Monetary Fund (IMF). Oxfam recently showed how IMF programmes using this

approach in Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan have negatively impacted women,

threatening to increase inequality.

Governments continue to rely on VAT,

despite the fact that this is a regressive tax that hits the poor hardest

and evidence that it places a disproportionate burden on women carers.

Government cuts are also putting pressure on women’s organizations.

In Brazil in 2017, cuts to public spending contributed to a reduction of

66% in federal funding in the budget initially allocated in 2017 to women’s

rights programmes that promote gender equality.

Climate breakdown is already placing a greater burden on women. It is

estimated that by 2025, up to 2.4 billion people will be living in areas

without enough water, meaning women and girls will be forced to walk

further and further to find it.

Climate change will also reduce the amount

of food produced and will increase sickness, which will place further

stress and time demands on women and girls, who will be expected to

provide the increased work needed to cope, committing ever more hours

in their days.

CLIMATE CHANGE

WILL REDUCE THE

AMOUNT OF FOOD

PRODUCED AND

INCREASE SICKNESS,

PLACING FURTHER

STRESS AND TIME

DEMANDS ON WOMEN

AND GIRLS.

TIME TO CARE

Lucas Aldana is a farmer who

lives with his wife and children

in Caparrosa, Guatemala.

The family grows a variety of

crops, but harvests have been

affected by the lack of rainfall.

Photo: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam

Intermón (2019)

A fairer world is possible

Governments around the world can, and must, build a human economy that

is feminist and benefits the 99%, not only the 1%. This world would be one

where everyone has secure jobs paying decent wages, where nobody lives

in fear of the cost of falling sick, and where every child has the chance

to fulfil their potential. In this world, our economy would thrive within the

limits of our planet, handing a better world to every new generation.

Both the dramatic level of economic inequality and the looming care

crisis can be tackled, but it will require concerted efforts and bold policy

decisions to mend the damage done and to build economic systems

that care for all citizens. Building national care systems with the full

participation of civil society, and in particular women’s rights groups,

is a fundamental step in this direction. Further actions to redistribute

care work should be part of a comprehensive approach of redistributive

policies in order to close the gap between rich and poor, such as

progressive taxation, free public services and social protection systems,

and policies to limit the influence of corporations and the super-rich.

Feminist economics and gender equality are fundamental to a human

economy; and a core part of this new, fairer, human economy is to

fully address the role of unpaid and underpaid care work. Only by

fundamentally changing the way that this work is done and how it is

valued can we build a more equal world.

BOTH THE DRAMATIC

LEVEL OF ECONOMIC

INEQUALITY AND

THE LOOMING CARE

CRISIS CAN BE

TACKLED, BUT IT WILL

REQUIRE CONCERTED

EFFORTS AND BOLD

POLICY DECISIONS TO

MEND THE DAMAGE

DONE AND TO BUILD

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

THAT CARE FOR

ALL CITIZENS.

S UMM A RY

For decades, feminist economists, civil society and care advocates have been

proposing a set of solutions to radically reprioritize care: the transformative

‘4Rs’ framework. These principles must be taken into account:

Recognize

unpaid and poorly paid care work, which is done

primarily by women and girls, as a type of work or production

that has real value.

Reduce

the total number of hours spent on unpaid care tasks

through better access to affordable and quality time-saving

devices and care-supporting infrastructure.

Redistribute

unpaid care work more fairly within the household

and simultaneously shift the responsibility of unpaid care work

to the state and the private sector.

Represent

the most marginalized caregivers and ensure that

they have a voice in the design and delivery of policies, services

and systems that affect their lives.

Change is possible. From Engna Legna Besdet bringing together Ethiopian

domestic workers in Lebanon, to the Domestic Workers Rising campaign

in South Africa, women are demanding change and claiming their rights.

And governments are starting to listen. Uruguay’s groundbreaking national

integrated care enshrines the right to care and be cared for, as well as care

workers’ rights, and New Zealand introduced a celebrated wellbeing budget

in 2019. But more action is needed.

FIGURE 7: MOVEMENTS FOR

CHANGE, STORIES OF HOPE

Engna Legna (Lebanon) has united

domestic workers and activists, together

calling for an end to the

kafala

system

that enables employers’ abuse of

domestic workers. Photo: Engna Legna

Bolivia,

some members

of the ‘Plataforma por

la Corresponsabilidad

Social y Pública del Cuidado’

pushed for a new care

law in Cochabamba.

Photo: Yamil Antonio

South Africa,

the

Domestic Workers Rising

campaign successfully

campaigned for rights

to compensation for

occupational injuries

and diseases. Photo:

Rukia Cornelius/Oxfam

Led by the National

Rural Women’s Coalition

(Philippines), women

carrying domestic cleaning

tools called for time

poverty to be addressed,

inspiring the We-Care

ordinance in Salcedo.

Photo: Alyssa Balite

TIME TO CARE

Recommendations

Oxfam is proposing the following six actions to help realize the rights of

carers and to start closing the gap between unpaid and underpaid care

workers and the wealthy elite, who have profited most from their labour.

Invest in national care systems to address the disproportionate

responsibility for care work done by women and girls:

Governments

must invest in cross-governmental national care systems, in

addition to investing in and transforming existing public services

and infrastructure. National care systems must include the

provision of universal access to safe water, sanitation and

domestic energy systems, and investments to deliver universal

childcare, eldercare and care for people with disabilities. These

should also include access to quality healthcare and education,

as well as the provision of universal social protection, such as

pensions and child benefits. As part of national care systems

governments must ensure a minimum of 14 weeks of paid maternity

leave and the progressive realization of one year of paid parental

leave, including a phase of use-it-or-lose-it paternity leave.

End extreme wealth to end extreme poverty:

Extreme wealth is

a sign of a failing economic system.

Governments must take

steps to radically reduce the gap between the rich and the

rest of society and prioritize the wellbeing of all citizens over

unsustainable growth and profit, to avoid a world that caters only

to a privileged few and consigns millions of people to poverty.

Governments must take bold and decisive steps by taxing

wealth and high incomes and cracking down on loopholes and

the inadequate global tax rules that allow rich corporations

and individuals to escape their tax responsibilities.

Legislate to protect the rights of all carers and secure living

wages for paid care workers:

As part of their national care

systems, governments must ensure that legal, economic and

labour market policies are in place to protect the rights of all

carers and paid care workers, in both formal and informal sectors,

and monitor their implementation. This must include ratifying ILO

Convention 189 on the protection of domestic workers and policy

to ensure that all care workers are paid a living wage, and working

towards the elimination of gender wage gaps.

Ensure that carers have influence on decision-making processes:

Governments must facilitate the participation of unpaid carers

and care workers in policy-making fora and processes at all

levels, and invest resources into collecting comprehensive data

that can better inform policy making and evaluate the impact of

policies on carers. This should be alongside consulting women’s

rights actors, feminist economists and civil society experts on

care issues, and increased funding for women’s organizations

and movements working to enable their participation in decision-

making processes. These measures are important building blocks

of national care systems.

GOVERNMENTS

MUST ENSURE THAT

LEGAL, ECONOMIC

AND LABOUR MARKET

POLICIES ARE IN

PLACE TO PROTECT

THE RIGHTS OF ALL

CARERS AND PAID

CARE WORKERS.

S UMM A RY

Challenge harmful norms and sexist beliefs:

Harmful norms and

sexist beliefs that see care work as the responsibility of women

and girls lead to an unequal gendered distribution of care work and

perpetuate economic and gender inequality. As part of the national

care systems, governments need to invest resources to challenge

these harmful norms and sexist beliefs, including through

advertising, public communication and legislation. Further, men

need to step up to equally fulfill their responsibilities on care work

to address the disproportionate amount of care done by women

within households and communities.

Value care in business policies and practices:

Businesses must

recognize the value of care work and sustain the wellbeing of

workers. Further, they should support the redistribution of care

through the provision of benefits and services such as crèches

and childcare vouchers and ensure living wages for care

providers.

Companies and business should assume their

responsibility for contributing to achieving the Sustainable

Development Goals by paying their fair share of taxes,

implementing family-friendly employment practices such as

flexible working hours and paid leave, and using progressive

advertising and public communication to challenge the gendered

distribution of care work.

BUSINESSES MUST

RECOGNIZE THE

VALUE OF CARE

WORK AND SUSTAIN

THE WELLBEING

OF WORKERS.

Ayan on her way to fetch water from a well. She lives

in a camp for internally displaced people in Garadag,

Somaliland. Because of prolonged drought in the region,

the family lost their herding livelihood and struggle to find

food and water. Photo: Petterik Wiggers/Oxfam (2017)

TIME TO CARE

Notes

All online sources were checked on 12 December 2019.

For more on the sources and methodology for

these figures, see P. Espinoza (2020). Time to

Care: Methodology Note. Oxfam. http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2020.5419. Source for data on

billionaires is Forbes billionaires list 2019: https://

www.forbes.com/billionaires/#b91420e251c7 and

on wealth inequality is Credit Suisse. Annual Reports.

https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/

reports-research/annual-reports.html

P. Espinoza Revollo (2020). Time to Care: Methodology

note. Oxfam. DOI: 10.21201/2020.5419, http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2020.5419

P. Espinoza Revollo (2020). Time to Care: Methodology

note. Oxfam. DOI: 10.21201/2020.5419, http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2020.5419

The World Bank (2018). Poverty and Shared Prosperity

2018. Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle. https://

www.worldbank.org/en/publication/pover-

ty-and-shared-prosperity

L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent

Work. Geneva: International Labour Organization.

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgre-

ports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/

wcms_633135.pdf

P. Espinoza Revollo (2020). Time to Care: Methodology

note. Oxfam. DOI: 10.21201/2020.5419, http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2020.5419

For Oxfam’s calculations for these facts, see the

methodology note: P. Espinoza Revollo (2020). Op, cit.

P.Espinoza Revollo (2020). Time to Care: Methodology

note. Op. cit.

Credit Suisse annual reports: Global Wealth Reports,

see https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/

reports-research/global-wealth-report.html

J. Lange. (2018, 16 October). 61 Things Donald Trump

Has Said About Women.

The Week.

https://theweek.

com/articles/655770/61-things-donald-trump-said-

about-women

15 G. Epps (2016, 13 October). Donald Trump’s Attacks on

the Rights of Minority Voters. The Atlantic. https://

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/

trump-election-intimidation-minority-voters/504014/;

M. Savarese (2019, 3 January). Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil’s

far-right President targets minorities on first day in

office. The Independent. https://www.independent.

co.uk/news/world/americas/jair-bolsanaro-brazil

-first-day-executive-orders-indigenous-lands-

lgbt-privatisation-gun-control-a8709801.html

16 F. Manjoo. (2019, 6 February). Abolish Billionaires: A

Radical Idea is Gaining Adherents on the Left. It’s the

Perfect Way to Blunt Tech-driven Inequality.

The New

York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/

opinion/abolish-billionaires-tax.html

D. Jacobs (2015). Extreme Wealth is not Merited.

Available from https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/

s3fs-public/file_attachments/dp-extreme-wealth-is-

not-merited-241115-en.pdf

Oxfam calculations, see the methodology note: P.

Espinoza Revollo (2020). Op, cit.

19 Max Lawson, et al. (2019). Public Good or Private

Wealth? Universal health, education and other public

services reduce the gap between rich and poor,

and between women and men. Fairer taxation of the

wealthiest can help pay for them. Oxfam. https://

policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/public-

good-or-private-wealth-universal-health-education-

and-other-public-servi-620599. DOI: http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2019.3651

20 A. Alstadsaeter, J. Niels and G. Zucman (2017). Tax

Evasion and Inequality. National Bureau of Economic

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papers/w23772

21 C.Mariotti (2019). The G7’s Deadly Sins: How the G7 is

fuelling the inequality crisis. Oxfam. https://www.

oxfam.org/en/research/g7s-deadly-sins

22 Credit Suisse (2018). Global Wealth Report 2018.

https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us-news/en/

articles/news-and-expertise/global-wealth-report-

2018-us-and-china-in-the-lead-201810.html

World Economic Forum (2018). The Global Gender Gap

Report 2018. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_

GGGR_2018.pdf

10 The three sources used by Credit Suisse are: national

Household Balance sheets, wealth survey data, and

Forbes’ billionaire rankings (to help adjust for the wealth

of those at the top end). All three have been shown to

underestimate the scale of wealth at the top end of

society, mostly because the richest are unwilling to

answer surveys, or to answer surveys accurately.

11 Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (2018).

Strongman Politics in the 21st Century. https://

fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/panel-discusi-

son-strong-man-politics-in-the-21st-century/

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(2016). An Analysis of Donald Trump’s revised Tax Plan.

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publications/analysis-donald-trumps-revised-tax-plan

24 Max Lawson, et al. (2019). Public Good or Private

Wealth? Op. cit.

The World Bank (2018). Poverty and Shared Prosperity

2018: Piecing together the poverty puzzle. https://

www.worldbank.org/en/publication/pover-

ty-and-shared-prosperity

13 K. Lum (2019, January). The Effects of Bolsonaro’s Hate

Speech on Brazil. Racism Monitor.

S UMM A RY

26 World Inequality Report (2018). https://wir2018.wid.

world/

27 World Inequality Report. (2018). https://wir2018.wid.

world/

28 Income inequality figures are most accurate for this

historical perspective. Taking a similar historical view

on the evolution of wealth inequality is possible, but

not based on nearly as much accurate and reliable data.

29 C. Larkner, D. Mahler, M. Negre and E. Prydz (2019).

How Much Does Reducing Inequality Matter for Global

Poverty? World Bank Policy Research Working Paper

8869. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/

en/328651559243659214/pdf/How-Much-Does-Re-

ducing-Inequality-Matter-for-Global-Poverty.pdf

30 K. Raworth (2017). A Doughnut for the Anthropocene:

Humanity’s compass in the 21st century.The Lancet:

Planetary Health. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/

S2542-5196(17)30028-1 https://www.thelancet.com/

journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(17)30028-1/

fulltext#articleInformation

31 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent

Work. Geneva: International labour Organisation.

https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgre-

ports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/

wcms_633135.pdf

32 C. Arruzza, T. Bhattacharya, and N. Fraser (2019).

Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto. London: Verso.

https://www.versobooks.com/books/2924-femi-

nism-for-the-99 and S. Federici (2004). Caliban and the

Witch. Autonomedia Publishing.

33 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work.

Op. cit.

34 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work.

Op. cit.

35 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work.

Op. cit.

36 UN Women (2018). Turning Promises into Action:

Gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.

org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/

library/publications/2018/sdg-report-gender-equali-

ty-in-the-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development-

2018-en.pdf?la=en&vs=4332

37 A. Zacharias (2017). How Time Deficits and Hidden

Poverty Undermine the Sustainable Development Goals.

Levy Economics Institute, Bard College. http://www.

levyinstitute.org/pubs/pn_17_4.pdf

38 L. Karimli, E. Samman, L. Rost and T. Kidder (2016).

Factors and Norms Influencing Unpaid Care Work:

Household survey evidence from five rural communities

in Colombia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Uganda and

Zimbabwe. Oxfam.

39 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino. (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent

Work. Geneva: International Labour Organization (ILO).

https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/

WCMS_633135/lang--en/index.htm

40 A.A. Marphatiaand R. Moussié (2013). A question of

gender justice: Exploring the linkages between women’s

unpaid care work, education, and gender equality.

International Journal of Educational Development.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2013.05.005

41 The ILO defines domestic work as work performed in

or for one or more households. This can include live-in

and live-out, those working on an hourly or daily basis

for multiple employers, those working through an

intermediary (public or private), and those who perform

a range of indirect and direct care work including caring

for children and elderly, cleaning, cooking, washing

clothes, etc.

42 International Labour Organization (2013). Domestic

Workers Across the World: Global and Regional

Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection. Geneva:

International Labour Office.

43 International Labour Organization. (2013). Domestic

Workers Across the World: Global and Regional

Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection. Op. cit.

44 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work.

Op. cit.

45 International Labour Organization. (2013).Domestic

Workers Across the World: Global and Regional

Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection. Op. cit.

46 ILO (2014). Profits and Poverty: the economics of

forced labour. Geneva: ILO. https://www.ilo.org/

wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/

documents/publication/wcms_243391.pdf

47 ILO website. Who are domestic workers? https://

www.ilo.org/global/topics/domestic-workers/

WCMS_209773/lang--en/index.htm

48 International Labour Organization. (2013). Domestic

Workers Across the World: Global and Regional

Statistics and the Extent of Legal Protection. Geneva:

International Labour Office. https://www.ilo.org/

travail/Whatsnew/WCMS_173363/lang--en/index.htm

49 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino. (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent

Work. Geneva: International Labour Organization (ILO).

https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/

WCMS_633135/lang--en/index.htm

50 Kalayaan. Case study. http://www.kalayaan.org.uk/

case-study/case-study-1-trafficked/

51 Tiempo para cuidar. Website. https://actions.oxfam.

org/bolivia/CUIDADO2019/petition/

52 L. Addati, U. Cattaneo, V. Esquivel and I. Valarino (2018).

Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work.

Op. cit.

TIME TO CARE

53 R. Jackson, N. Howe and T. Peter (2013). The Global

Aging Preparedness Index. Second Edition. Center for

Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). https://

csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_

files/files/publication/131010_Jackson_GlobalAging-

PreparednessIndex2E_Web.pdf

54 Population Reference Bureau (April 1, 2016). Health

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Populations. https://www.prb.org/healthcarechal-

lengesfordevelopingcountrieswithagingpopulations/

55 N.Abdo (2019). The Gendered Impact of IMF Policies in

MENA: The case of Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. Oxfam.

https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/

the-gendered-impact-of-imf-policies-in-mena-the-

case-of-egypt-jordan-and-tunisia-620878

56 Programme Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s

Rights (no date). Why Care About Taxation and Gender

Equality. GTZ. https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-

development/44896295.pdf

57 United Nations (2018). Effects of foreign debt and

other related financial obligations of States on the full

enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic,

social and cultural rights. Note to UN General Assembly.

https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/

N18/229/04/PDF/N1822904.pdf?OpenElement

58 Centre for Economics and Social Rights. (2017,14

Dec). Brazil’s Austerity Cap Stunting Rights to

Food, Health and Education. Press release. http://

www.cesr.org/brazils-austerity-cap-stunt-

ing-rights-food-health-and-education

59 CARE Danmark (2016). Fleeing Climate Change:

Impacts on Migration and Displacement.

https://careclimatechange.org/wp-content/

uploads/2016/11/FleeingClimateChange_report.pdf

60 D. Hardoon. (2017). An Economy for the 99%: It’s time

to build a human economy that benefits everyone, not

just the privileged few. Oxfam. https://policy-practice.

oxfam.org.uk/publications/an-economy-for-the-

99-its-time-to-build-a-human-economy-that-

benefits-everyone-620170. DOI: http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2017.8616

61 Oxfam GB and Unilever (2019). Business Briefing

on Unpaid Care and Domestic Work: Why unpaid

care by women and girls matters to business,

and how companies can address it. Oxfam GB

and Unilever. https://policy-practice.oxfam.

org.uk/publications/business-briefing-on-un-

paid-care-and-domestic-work-why-unpaid-

care-by-women-and-620764. DOI: http://dx.doi.

org/10.21201/2019.4405.

Margarita Garfias is the

primary carer for her son,

who has epilepsy. Mexico

City, Mexico. Photo: Estela

Bishop Zermeño/Oxfam

Mexico (2018)

S UMM A RY

Oxfam

is an international confederation of

20 organizations networked together in more than

90 countries, as part of a global movement for

change, to build a future free from the injustice

of poverty. Please write to any of the agencies

for further information, or visit www.oxfam.org

Oxfam America (www.oxfamamerica.org)

Oxfam Australia (www.oxfam.org.au)

Oxfam-in-Belgium (www.oxfamsol.be)

Oxfam Brasil (www.oxfam.org.br)

Oxfam Canada (www.oxfam.ca)

Oxfam France (www.oxfamfrance.org)

Oxfam Germany (www.oxfam.de)

Oxfam GB (www.oxfam.org.uk)

Oxfam Hong Kong (www.oxfam.org.hk)

Oxfam IBIS (Denmark) (www.oxfamibis.dk)

Oxfam India (www.oxfamindia.org)

Oxfam Intermón (Spain) (www.oxfamintermon.org)

Oxfam Ireland (www.oxfamireland.org)

Oxfam Italy (www.oxfamitalia.org)

Oxfam Mexico (www.oxfammexico.org)

Oxfam New Zealand (www.oxfam.org.nz)

Oxfam Novib (Netherlands) (www.oxfamnovib.nl)

Oxfam Québec (www.oxfam.qc.ca)

Oxfam South Africa (www.oxfam.org.za)

KEDV (Turkey) (https://www.kedv.org.tr/)