Georgia Grogan, carer to a daughter with complex needs, describes how she is impacted by the uneven distribution of care. “Skye relies on me for everything- I am her entire world. I don’t have the luxury of making mistakes. From the moment I became a carer I feel like I’ve been fighting a losing battle. It sickens me that those who don’t have the ability or the confidence to speak up are the ones expected to shout the loudest. I’m constantly being reminded of my age, my lack of experience, my overall duty as a parent, but denied the contributions and the value of what I give as a carer’.
“The policies and rules involved in care are often degrading, and they perpetuate outdated ideas that women are simply homemakers. I can’t stay in education without working, and I can’t find meaningful, sustainable work without education. Care impacts every aspect of life for all of us, the environment around us, how we connect with others, and connect with ourselves. But unfortunately, there are many of us who provide more care, and see little benefit.” She continued.
Georgia Grogan (left) pictured with Sarah McEntee, Doras Buí.
Globally, on average women spend nearly four and a half hours each day doing unpaid care work, compared to around one and a half hours for men. We work with women who spend up to 18 hours a day on unpaid work. This limits women from education, work or spending time with friends and family, leaving them very isolated.
Through our Women’s Rights Programme, funded by Irish Aid, we work at a community, local and national level to change this, including advocacy to improve local services and working with communities to dismantle gender stereotypes.
Mahabir Man Maktan, Nepal, once viewed women to be weak and needed to be controlled by men. For him women were meant to do household work. He shares how he changed his views and is now influences other men in the community to share caring responsibilities.
He spoke about his experience joining the local group set up by ActionAid “We discussed various topics and issues in the group such as toxic masculinity; various forms of violence and how it is impacting not only women but men and entire family to community; unpaid care burden of women, serious impact of alcoholism and benefits of reducing intake dose. We also sat for several couple counseling classes.”
“Now I am supporting my wife in every way possible. I learned to cook and sharing responsibility by cooking, grinding, fetching water, feeding livestock, taking care of grandson and shepherding. I realized this late, but it was worth to realize for me for shake of my family.” He continued.
