Breaking

Recognizing Unpaid Care Work Key to Addressing Domestic Violence-Experts

Dr. Musiimenta highlighted instances where men resort to violence over minor issues, such as a delay in being served food, without considering that their wives may have been held up by other household tasks.
30 Oct 2024 16:03
From solo act to shared stage; Husband helps wife to wash utensils. Photo by UWONET

Audio 3

Experts are suggesting that the biggest solution to curbing domestic and gender based violence lies in recognizing the value of unpaid care work, typically shouldered by women.

Dr Peace Musiimenta, a gender studies specialist at Makerere University, said that acknowledging and valuing this often-overlooked labor can be instrumental in reducing instances of domestic abuse. 

“One of the most effective ways to address domestic violence is by recognizing the unpaid care work, largely managed by wives,” Dr. Musiimenta explains, highlighting a critical yet often invisible factor in household dynamics.

Gender-based violence remains a serious issue in Uganda. The 2021 National Survey on Violence in Uganda, conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, revealed that 95 percent of Ugandan women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence. 

Dr. Musiimenta highlighted instances where men resort to violence over minor issues, such as a delay in being served food, without considering that their wives may have been held up by other household tasks. She added that a lack of recognition for the effort involved in unpaid care work often leads to misunderstandings and, in some cases, violence. 

//Cue in; “Unpaid care work... 

Cue out...will be kicked.”//

//Cue in; “ekyo kugabana... 

Cue out...bulungi.”// 

Margaret Ayebare Rwebyambu, the Woman MP for Mbarara District, said that, by human nature, anyone who works extensively can become exhausted. She explained that women often become worn out by household chores, and this fatigue sometimes leads to unmet expectations, which can escalate into emotional and physical conflicts at home.

Ayebare, a member of Uganda Women Parliamentary Association-UWOPA, added that many women face violence from their husbands for not consenting to conjugal relations, while others experience forced intimacy—all because they are genuinely exhausted from the demanding responsibilities of home care. 

According to Ayebare, if the load of a woman is reduced by help from the spouse or an act of appreciation this might go a long way to defuse the would be violence at home.

//Cue in; “We all know... 

Cue out...will begin.”// 

Dr Madina Gulooba, a Senior Research Fellow at the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC), observed during field research that families where male partners actively assisted with household tasks tended to be more stable. 

“A woman who found that her husband had made the bed felt appreciated, and the husband noted that acts like these were a ‘sure deal’ for conjugal rights. How could domestic violence occur in such a supportive environment?” she remarked, highlighting the positive impact of shared responsibilities on household harmony. 

The experts shared the insights during an event where Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) and Partners presented their baseline report on unpaid care work in Uganda. At the event, they presented a new model, P.O.W.E.R., designed to help reduce and redistribute the burden of unpaid care work that traditionally falls on women. 

P.O.W.E.R stands for Promoting women’s economic empowerment, organizing men to challenge inequities, working with communities, engaging local-level duty bearers, and Reaching out to decision-makers through advocacy.  

This study started in 2021 after EPRC’s analysis revealed that despite campaigns and government programs geared towards ensuring more women are released to the labor market, many were still spending up to 5.5 hours each day in unpaid care work such as cooking, cleaning their homes and yet their male counterparts were spending only 3 hours day in unpaid work.  

The findings showed that, on average, women spent 32 hours weekly on unpaid care work and 21 hours weekly on unpaid production of products for home consumption, while men spent 20 and 10 hours per week respectively. 

At a global scale, over 75 percent of unpaid care work is done by women, and the economic value of all the unpaid care that women over 15 years old provide is astounding—USD 10.8 trillion.