Who Cares?
Who cares?
Who cares?
- March 8, 2023
- Posted by: MAYURI
- Category: Articles
Who cares?
On this International Women’s day, here are some thought provoking facts about who cares
- 70 percent of living organ donations, especially of liver and kidneys are made by women in India
- Globally, women perform 76.2 per cent of total hours of unpaid care work, more than three times as much as men, most of it of care giving nature
- The total value of unpaid care and domestic work that women do is estimated to be between 10% and 39% of gross domestic product. It contributes more to the economy than sectors like manufacturing, commerce, or transportation.
- In 89% of households, women and girls perform the majority of household chores, the most common among care giving activities
- Varying estimates across different countries indicate that 57% to 81%of all caregivers of the elderly are women. In most cases female caregivers are wives or adult daughters of the elderly person. They are usually middle-aged, with a considerable proportion of them being over 65 years themselves.
- Up to 81% of all caregivers, formal and informal, are female, and they may spend as much as 50% more time giving care than males.
- Women undertake an average of 78 per cent more care than men per day. Women spent an average of 265 minutes per day caring for children under five, while men spent 149 minutes. This gap decreased for children aged between five and 10 years, as women dedicated an average of 232 minutes per day, compared to men’s 193 minutes per day.
- 7 hours per week is the average amount of time caregivers spend providing unpaid care for loved ones they don’t live with; those who live with their care recipient spend 37.4 hours a week. More than 75% of all caregivers are female.
- Women constitute 82% of caregivers, with 90% being mothers of patients; 70% of them were over 60 years of age , for providing care to schizophrenia patients .
- Personal experience; at NIMH, Hyderabad, 85 % of the care givers accompanying the differently abled children of various types, intellectual impairment, sensory impairment, ADHD, autistic, Cerebral palsy and so on, were mothers. And every now and then, grand mothers!
- Among heterogeneous population of men and women with young children a study found that mothers who worked full-time spent 15 more hours on child care and domestic chores than fathers with wives who were employed full-time.
- Female physician-researchers with children reported spending 8.5 hours per week more on parenting or domestic activities than their male counterparts in a study.
- It appears that women caregivers are especially at risk for clinical depression, anxiety, paranoia, and low life satisfaction due to constant care giving role
- Research shows that the market value of informal care that women provide ranges from $148 billion to $188 billion annually.
- Around the world, 42% of women can’t secure jobs because they’re responsible for care giving.
But….
Who cares? The task is been done.
- What if women are overwhelmed by their responsibilities, and overburdened
- What if mot do not expect or seek at least verbal appreciation for what they do
- What if many of them do not ask or even get voluntary help
- What if their efforts are criticized , forget being appreciated
- What if many die without hearing a kind word
- Finally, what if the world thinks it’s no big deal…what they do…
Who cares? Still, women themselves care! The relationships, family health, order in the domestic sphere, psychological well being of families, security for elders are all taken care of. Women do this at the risk of their physical and mental health.
It’s time the world starts caring for one half its human population and not just designate a day in the year as women’s day!
A very eye-opening and enlightening text rightly posted on the day of women’s day. The facts enlisted are astonishing and unbelievable. Status of women is almost same across the globe irrespective of culture, education and socio economic conditions. Sometimes I feel the inherent caring and nurturing trait of women is exploited to the ,peaks not only in the family but in the other social institutions as well. . The invisible, unrecognised, unpaid, low dignity tasks are conveniently loaded on women with all sentimental and emotional taglines.
After 75 years of independence also we are still struggling for women empowerment. It is high time to focus on empowering men on gender equity and equality.
This article brought tears to my eyes. It is th harsh truth that noone wants to notice or care about. Very well said mom…who cares…is the attitude that the world holds because it simply runs smoothly for everyone only because women take up these tasks without hesitation and do it effortlessly without blinking an eyelid all through their lives. We are not valued in life for the mammoth amount of work we do. People realise it after the woman of the house passes. She leaves a vacuum that can’t be fulfilled with anything else. So who cares for one so called da dedicated to us….we deserve everyday to be ours and we get none.
Learnt many more statistics than I read saw anywhere else.
Ironical Rhetorical and insightful
Yes. Even today women need to fight for their rights 😂
When woman stop being woman’s worst enemies , maybe things improve. Need an Old Gals Club .
The stark truth underlying these lopsided statistics reflects very poorly in the societies we live, in that tokenism such as reserving a day in the calendar for acknowledging half the population is the best we can do.
Assigning meaningful economic value to the tasks that women routinely do all over the world as unpaid work could alleviate the current and historical bias against women and move the needle towards equality. Is it any surprise that the levers that control this historically and today are predominantly men – be it rulers or elected representatives, business owners or CEOs, law enforcement or the judicial system … fill-in-the-blank.
A change in the proportion of women in powerful roles is essential to effect lasting change in the socioeconomic status of women in any society. Anything else will be condemned to honoring their significant contributions to humanity with tokenism.
We asked the young lady receptionist in my apartment this morning as to why on a day honoring women she was not dressed in colorful clothes of her choice instead of the drab uniform. The answer: her boss and the agency owner setting the rules are men.
Very well written. Eye opening statistics. A woman does the care giving without any expectations, appreciations. The responsibility taken is constant without feeling tired or bored. What a great trait. A good article on the Women’s day.
See message posted with my yahoo email address.
Gist: woman need to start supporting other woman.
Stomp the envy before it sprouts into jealousy.
Help each other out.
Very painful to read the statistics of women caregivers. Even in this century where equality is the key word in all walks of life? Your article portrays the real indepth lying truth. Thank you for bringing up issues. As you pointed out, Yeah women deserve 24×7 celebration and not one single day.
Men can be great allies in supporting women’s issues but it is women who need to start finding their voice and using it to advocate for themselves. Looking to men— whether it’s spouses, male siblings, elected leaders, male bosses—- to champion us, mentor us, advocate for us means that we are not learning to do it for ourselves. And that’s a huge problem. With hundreds of years of patriarchy baked into our DNAs, we need to massively rewire. Owning our experiences, our truth, our needs must start with us!
Very true akka. A woman’s hard work nd dedication is priceless.
Women has the maximum mental strength to withstand anything comes in their way. Very very good article akka
Excellent, marvelous, awesome and punchy writing. Great. Keep it up Mayuri
Excellent Mayuri dear…well written….keep doing such great writings