Transforming care systems in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and Our Common Agenda

Care work, mostly carried out by women, unpaid or underpaid, remains informal and invisible. Despite its inherent value to societies, communities, and families, unpaid care work is also excluded from economic calculations and ends up perpetuating inequalities.

This UN system policy paper focuses on the importance of care work and the need to transform care systems to achieve sustainable development and gender equality. The paper provides a practical framework for UN agencies to address care within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and promotes comprehensive care systems that enable gender equality and social justice. It highlights policy options to support the transformation of care systems and highlights the importance of human rights–based, universal, and transformative approaches to care.