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Gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection

Gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection

Gender and age play a disproportionately large role in how people experience risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities. Entrenched gender inequalities and norms drive differences in women and men’s lives and their well-being. Events at different stages in life, like marriage, childbearing or retirement, also produce distinct risks and vulnerabilities for women and girls. The intersection of gender inequalities and norms with ages and stages in the life course mean women and girls are at a heightened risk of poverty.

Social protection, such as cash transfers or health insurance, can help address poverty and vulnerability, as well as supporting people during shocks from childhood through to old age. Despite the benefits of social protection systems, many fail to address gender- and life course-related vulnerabilities and inequalities, limiting its potential for poverty reduction.

To understand how these vulnerabilities and inequalities can be prevented and addressed, UNICEF Office of Research—Innocenti is engaged in a five-year research programme (2018-2023) called Gender-Responsive and Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP), generously funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and other partners. The research programme will examine how gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection can sustainably reduce poverty and achieve gender equality.

Publications

A Cash Plus Model for Safe Transitions to a Healthy and Productive Adulthood: Round 4 Impact Evaluation Report
Publication

A Cash Plus Model for Safe Transitions to a Healthy and Productive Adulthood: Round 4 Impact Evaluation Report

This mixed-methods impact evaluation examines the impacts of “Ujana Salama” (‘Safe Youth’ in Swahili) which is a cash plus programme targeting adolescents in households receiving cash transfers under the United Republic of Tanzania’s Productive Social Safety Net (PSSN) programme. Implemented by the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF), with technical assistance of the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) and UNICEF Tanzania, the ‘plus’ component includes in-person training, mentoring, and grants. The impact evaluation examines the differential impact of the integrated programme (cash plus intervention targeting adolescents) when compared to the PSSN alone. This report describes findings from the fourth round of data collection (2021), conducted 18–20 months after the end of programme implementation as part of the broader Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) research programme (2018–2024), led by UNICEF Innocenti and funded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The impact evaluation found that most of the post-programme impacts were gendered. This includes sustained increases in economic activities by female youth, sustained increases in healthcare seeking by male youth and reductions in experience of sexual violence among female youth. Implementation of “plus” aspects such as training and mentoring was gender sensitive. However, conservative gender norms were influential as they negatively influenced programme impacts on contraception.
How Gender-responsive Age-sensitive Social Protection is Related to the Climate Crisis: A summary of the evidence
Publication

How Gender-responsive Age-sensitive Social Protection is Related to the Climate Crisis: A summary of the evidence

This paper outlines how climate change can create specific gendered risks based on age and stage of the life course.
Promoting Gender-Transformative Change through Social Protection: An analytical approach
Publication

Promoting Gender-Transformative Change through Social Protection: An analytical approach

Social protection can reduce income poverty and food and economic insecurity, address financial barriers to accessing social services, and promote positive development outcomes throughout the life course – particularly for women and girls. But can it address preexisting gender inequalities through the design, implementation and financing of its programmes? To strengthen the evidence base ‘what works’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ for social protection to contribute to gender equality, this report proposes and presents an analytical approach to evidence generation on gender-responsive social protection for gender-transformative change. It builds on the Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection (GRASSP) conceptual framework, and on the theoretical, conceptual and empirical literature on gender and social protection. Structured as a socio-ecological framework, our approach presents three interconnected change pathways – at the individual, household and societal level – through which gender-responsive social protection can contribute to gender-transformative results, along with tailored design and implementation features, and underpinned by a set of change levers that existing evidence suggests can strengthen the gender-responsiveness of social protection systems.
Mainstreaming gender into social protection strategies and programmes: Evidence from 74 low- and middle-income countries
Publication

Mainstreaming gender into social protection strategies and programmes: Evidence from 74 low- and middle-income countries

The importance of mainstreaming gender into social protection policies and programmes is increasingly recognized. However, evidence on the extent to which this is actually happening remains limited. This report contributes to filling this evidence gap by drawing on the findings of two complementary research projects undertaken by UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti and UN Women in 2019. Using a specifically developed analytical framework, these two projects reviewed 50 national social protection strategies and 40 social protection programmes across a total of 74 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to assess the extent to which they incorporate gender equality concerns.
Social Protection and Its Effects on Gender Equality: A literature review
Publication

Social Protection and Its Effects on Gender Equality: A literature review

Globally, progress has been made in the fight against both poverty and gender inequality, including through the expansion of social protection programmes. Yet significant gaps remain. Many women and girls remain in poverty and often face different structural constraints and risks across their life course, related to their biological sex as well as entrenched gender norms that discriminate against them in many aspects of their lives. As poverty, risks and vulnerabilities – which social protection aims to minimize, reduce or tackle – are gendered, if the root causes of gender inequality are not investigated in evidence generation and addressed in policy and practice, poverty will not be sustainably eradicated, nor gender equality achieved. This paper provides an overview of the latest evidence on the effects of social protection on gender equality. It starts by considering how risks and vulnerabilities are gendered, and the implications of their gendered nature for boys’ and girls’, and men’s and women’s well-being throughout the life course. It then reviews and discusses the evidence on the design features of four types of social protection programmes – non-contributory programmes, contributory programmes, labour market programmes, and social care services – and their effects on gender equality, unpacking which design features matter the most to achieve gender equality. Finally, the paper concludes with implications for a future research agenda on gender and social protection.
Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection: A conceptual framework
Publication

Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection: A conceptual framework

Childcare in a Global Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 on work and family life
Publication

Childcare in a Global Crisis: The Impact of COVID-19 on work and family life

A Rapid Review of Economic Policy and Social Protection Responses to Health and Economic Crises and Their Effects on Children: Lessons for the COVID-19 pandemic response
Publication

A Rapid Review of Economic Policy and Social Protection Responses to Health and Economic Crises and Their Effects on Children: Lessons for the COVID-19 pandemic response

This rapid review seeks to inform initial and long-term public policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by assessing evidence on past economic policy and social protection responses to health and economic crises and their effects on children and families. The review focuses on virus outbreaks/emergencies, economic crises and natural disasters which, similar to the COVID-19 pandemic, were rapid in onset, had wide-ranging geographical reach, and resulted in disruption of social services and economic sectors without affecting governance systems. Lessons are also drawn from the HIV/AIDS pandemic due to its impact on adult mortality rates and surviving children.
GRASSP Think Piece Series
Publication

GRASSP Think Piece Series

The UNICEF’s Office of Research—Innocenti is pleased to launch this think piece series on gender-responsive age-sensitive social protection in low- and middle-income countries. This series seeks to stimulate thinking and dialogue, and push boundaries on how academics, national governments, and the international community as a whole can improve and strengthen social protection systems to achieve the sustainable development goals, such as poverty eradication, whilst contributing to gender equality.
A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low and middle-income countries
Publication

A mixed-method review of cash transfers and intimate partner violence in low and middle-income countries

Exploring Women's Empowerment through Asset Ownership and Experience of Intimate Partner Violence
Publication

Exploring Women's Empowerment through Asset Ownership and Experience of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is widespread globally, with an estimated one-third of women aged 15 years and over experiencing physical and/or sexual violence at the hands of an intimate partner during their lifetimes. Economic empowerment, or the financial standing of women, is often thought to protect against IPV, signalling sufficient economic autonomy to leave abusive situations or to prevent abuse. Asset ownership is one measure of economic empowerment, and can convey substantial agency as a wealth store, especially for large productive assets, such as agricultural land or home ownership. Despite the important implications of IPV reduction for policy and programming, evidence of this relationship is scarce.We hope this research will advance our global understanding of this potential.
Care Work and Children: An Expert Roundtable
Publication

Care Work and Children: An Expert Roundtable

A first roundtable to explore the issues regarding care work and children was hosted in Florence by the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti from 6 to 7 December 2016. Unpaid care and domestic work have often been neglected in both research and policymaking, being viewed as lying within the domestic sphere of decisions and responsibilities, rather than as a public issue. However, over recent decades, researchers across a range of disciplines have strived to fill the evidence, data and research gaps by exploring the unpaid care and domestic work provided particularly by women within the household, and uncovering the entrenched social and gender norms and inequalities.

Journal Articles

COVID-19 and a “crisis of care”: A feminist analysis of public policy responses to paid and unpaid care and domestic work
Journal Article

COVID-19 and a “crisis of care”: A feminist analysis of public policy responses to paid and unpaid care and domestic work

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gender inequalities, increasing the amount of unpaid care weighing on women and girls, and the vulnerabilities faced by paid care workers, often women working informally. Using a global database on social protection responses to COVID-19 that focuses on social assistance, social insurance and labour market programmes, this article considers whether and how these responses have integrated care considerations. Findings indicate that, although many responses addressed at least one aspect of care (paid or unpaid), very few countries have addressed both types of care, prompting a discussion of the implications of current policy responses to COVID-19 (and beyond) through a care lens.
Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews
Journal Article

Impact of social protection on gender equality in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews

More than half of the global population is not effectively covered by any type of social protection benefit and women's coverage lags behind. Most girls and boys living in low-resource settings have no effective social protection coverage. Interest in these essential programmes in low and middle-income settings is rising and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the value of social protection for all has been undoubtedly confirmed. However, evidence on whether the impact of different social protection programmes (social assistance, social insurance and social care services and labour market programmes) differs by gender has not been consistently analysed. Evidence is needed on the structural and contextual factors that determine differential impacts. Questions remain as to whether programme outcomes vary according to intervention implementation and design.
Protocol: Impact of social protection on gender equality in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of reviews
Journal Article

Protocol: Impact of social protection on gender equality in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of reviews

This is the protocol for a Campbell review. The review aims to systematically collect, appraise, map and synthesise the evidence from systematic reviews on the differential gender impacts of social protection programmes in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries (LMICs). Therefore, it will answer the following questions: (1) What is known from systematic reviews on the gender‐differentiated impacts of social protection programmes in LMICs? (2) What is known from systematic reviews about the factors that determine these gender‐differentiated impacts? (3) What is known from existing systematic reviews about design and implementation features of social protection programmes and their association with gender outcomes?

News & Commentary

GRASSP: Advancing gender equality through social protection
Article

GRASSP: Advancing gender equality through social protection

Social protection can reduce income poverty and food and economic insecurity, address financial barriers to accessing social services, and promote positive development outcomes throughout the life course - particularly for women and girls. Social protection also has the potential to act as a vehicle for eradicating the harmful social norms, and power imbalances that perpetuate gender inequality. GRASSP sets out to explore the gender-transformative potential of social protection through three core research streams. Research Stream 1Aims to help improve the gender responsive planning, monitoring and evaluation of social protection programmes and systems with research focusing on the conceptualisation, measurement and analysis of gender equality outcomes.A conceptual framework, outlining the linkages between gender inequalities, investments in social protection policies, programmes and systems, and positive gender equality outcomes across the life course.An analytical approach to evidence generation on gender-responsive social protection.  A systematic review of reviews which contributes to a clearer picture of the differential impacts of social protection on girls, boys, women and men, in low- and middle-income countries. Find here the plain language summary and podcast of the review.A review of gender equality measures (upcoming) including social and gender norms, and empowerment, assessing how gender equality is quantitatively measured in research and evaluations in low- and middle-income countries. GRASSP literature reviews also add to the evidence base on achieving gender equality and social protection throughout the different stages of an individual's life (the life course). An overview of the latest evidence on the effects of social protection on gender equality, with a focus on the design features of four types of social protection programmes.A review (upcoming) of the literature on climate change, gender, and social protection.A working paper (upcoming) on care, norms, and social protection. Research Stream 2Develops evidence on the impacts of social protection on gender equality outcomes; including how and why this is achieved.A mixed methods cross-country report (forthcoming) and country case studies (forthcoming) on the gender equality outcomes of social protection programmes.A report (forthcoming) investigating the effects of contextual factors and social and gender norms on gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection programmes.Cost-effectiveness analysis briefs (forthcoming) of social protection programmes in crises contexts.Research Stream 3 Investigates if and how gender can be institutionalized into social protection systems, and the role that factors such as political economy (e.g. institutions and interests), norms and financing, along with processes of systemic reform play, in creating social protection systems that incorporate sustainable and long-lasting change for gender equality. A report (forthcoming) on the political economy of GRASSP reform.A report (forthcoming) on the implementation of GRASSP designs.A report (forthcoming) on sustainability of GRASSP systems.Country briefs (forthcoming) on why and how gender has been institutionalized into social protection systems.  GRASSP is generously funded with UK aid from the UK government.   About the UNICEF Office of Research - InnocentiThe Office of Research - Innocenti is UNICEF's dedicated research centre. It undertakes research on emerging or current issues to inform the strategic directions, policies and programmes of UNICEF and its partners, shape global debates on child rights and development, and inform the global research and policy agenda for all children, and particularly for the most vulnerable. Visit UNICEF Innocenti's website and follow UNICEF Innocenti on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. 
Exploring how gender equality can be achieved through social protection
Article

Exploring how gender equality can be achieved through social protection

Aysha Akhter Khushi (18) started her own business selling eggs with the help of cash transfers. (28 January 2020) UNICEF’s Office of Research—Innocenti has today launched its new five-year research programme exploring gender-sensitive and age-responsive social protection (GRASSP). Funded by the Department for International Development, the programme will examine how social protection can enhance gender equality outcomes throughout the world.See our GRASSP workTo mark the launch, eleven think pieces written by gender and social protection experts from around the globe, stimulate thinking and dialogue, and push boundaries on how social protection can be improved to achieve development goals, such as poverty eradication, whilst contributing to gender equality.Read the 11 think pieces by gender & social protection expertsEvidence shows that social protection, like cash transfers or health insurance, can help address poverty, improve well-being, and provide support during shocks from childhood through to old age. However, despite the enormous impact on people’s lives, social protection has fallen short of its potential for transformative effects for gender equality.GRASSP will help improve understanding of how gender- and age-related vulnerabilities and inequalities can be addressed through social protection, with the aim of reducing poverty and achieving gender equality.See our GRASSP work.Read the 11 think pieces by gender & social protection experts.Discover more about GRASSP.
Gender, paid domestic work and social protection. Exploring opportunities and challenges to extending social protection coverage among paid domestic workers in Nigeria
Article

Gender, paid domestic work and social protection. Exploring opportunities and challenges to extending social protection coverage among paid domestic workers in Nigeria

Disclaimer: The views expressed within this Think Piece are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of UNICEF. This Think Piece has not been edited to official publication standards and UNICEF accepts no responsibility for errors.Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed, UNICEF Office of Research - InnocentiAround the world, the social significance and demand for paid domestic work has grown enormously – becoming an important source of employment for an estimated 70.1 million people globally, possibly up to 100 million as domestic work is often hidden and unregistered. Of that, between 4 and 10% of workers in the Global South are engaged in this form of employment, compared with between 1 and 2.5% in the Global North. Furthermore, in Africa it represents 1.4% of total employment and 4.9% of total paid employees. While domestic work is a highly feminised job, with women making up 70.2% of domestic workers, an increasing body of work also explores men in this occupation, including male migrant domestic workers performing domestic tasks traditionally associated with women in the household. This increase in numbers of domestic workers is also due to changes in labour markets worldwide, resulting in a transition towards a service economy and the creation of an environment in which more casual and insecure work has been an integral part of women’s increased labour force participation. This is coupled with a declining public provisioning of care, women’s struggle to combine their paid work and unpaid domestic responsibilities, and men’s supposed unwillingness to increase their contribution to unpaid reproductive labour. To ease these burdens, middle and upper-class households have adopted the use of ‘commoditised care work’. Domestic workers make a large contribution economically and socially to society. Yet, they experience uncertain working conditions and little to no social protection as a result of domestic work being considered a low status job. Employment benefits such as health insurance, maternity benefits or social pensions are usually absent from working arrangements. Along with the receipt of little or no pay, domestic workers (especially live-ins) have no clear division between work and private time with long working hours, limited rest and leisure time, and rare opportunities for days off. Additionally, they have heavy workloads, inadequate accommodation and food (for live-in workers), job insecurity, and exposure to violence and abuse in the workplace. International and National Regulation on Domestic WorkLegal minimum global standards for workers’ rights can contribute towards improving protection and working conditions of domestic workers around the world, including the ILO’s Decent Work for Domestic Workers Agenda, and specifically Convention Number 189 (C189) and Recommendation Number 201, which came into force in September 2013. It recognises the social and economic value of this occupation and calls for the progressive extension of social security protection of domestic workers. Convention No.189 comprises twenty-seven global standards for workers’ rights. These include: effective protection against all forms of abuse, harassment and violence (Article 5); fair terms of employment and decent working conditions that respect their privacy (Article 6); normal hours of work, overtime compensation, periods of daily and weekly rest and pain annual leave (Article 10). The accompanying Recommendation 201 provides practical guidance concerning possible legal and other measures to implement the rights and principles stated in C189, such as paragraph 25, which recognises the need to respect domestic workers’ work and family responsibilities. Since its adoption, the Convention has been ratified in 29 countries - 27 are already in force, with two coming into force between April and June 2020.In Nigeria, domestic work is undeniably part of everyday life, with some households employing a range of workers to performs services, such as cleaning, cooking, caring for children, washing clothes, driving, gardening and security. Others hire a woman, who can do household chores and care for the children or a man who, in addition to domestic tasks, might also garden, guard and, in a few cases, drive. Some families employ domestic workers on a full-time basis, while others make do with part-time workers. Domestic workers represent a significant share of the labour force of the informal economy in the country. The 2007 National Bureau Statistics of Nigeria estimated domestic workers at 197,900, comprising 98,300 women and 99,600 men – although these numbers are likely underestimated.Nigerian legislation and policy do give effect to a number of ILO’s C189 standards for regulating domestic work. There are policies that recognise paid domestic work, including the Labour Regulations (1936), the Labour Act (1990), the Anti-trafficking Policy (2003), the Employee Compensation Act (2010) and the Labour Migration Policy (2013). For example, while the use of the term ‘servant’ is extremely problematic – further denoting inferiority between the domestic worker and the domestic employer, Article 91 of the Nigerian Labour Act (1990) provides a definition of a ‘domestic servant’ as: ...any house, table or garden servant employed in or in connection with the domestic services of any private dwelling house, and includes a servant employed as the driver of a privately owned or privately used motor car.Closer inspection of existing policies reveals several important gaps, exclusions, and loopholes, which can exempt employers and the State from ensuring that domestic work is protected and regulated. For example, ‘implicit exclusion’ of domestic workers can be found with reference to receiving the national minimum wage, which was proposed by the Nigerian Senate to be raised from NGN18,000 (USD$58) to NGN30,000 (USD$97) in March 2019. While Article 9 of the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act (2011) defines a ‘worker’ as: ‘…any member of the civil service of the Federation, of a State or Local Government or any individual (other than persons occupying executive, administrative, technical or professional positions in any such civil service) who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer whether the contract is manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it is a contract personally to execute any work or labour’. Domestic workers appear to be excluded from the entitlement to receive the minimum wage under Article 2(a) of this Act, which states that the requirement to pay the national minimum wage under section 1 of the Act shall not apply to ‘an establishment in which less than fifty workers are employed’ – a situation that applies to almost all domestic workers. The state of the legal and policy provisions applicable to domestic workers in Nigeria, are compounded within a country context where a cultural and societal attitude of stigmatisation and discrimination of domestic workers exists with no formal mechanisms in place to enforce any existing laws. Employers’ themselves may not even be aware of the existence of such laws or lack the willingness to learn about them. Thus, as significant as international standard setting is for the protection of domestic workers, regulation and protection is also based on a society’s recognition of domestic workers.Extending Nigeria’s Social Protection Agenda to Include Domestic WorkersNigeria’s Social Protection Agenda is expanding. This includes rolling out a comprehensive National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP) as part of its National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP), approval of a National Social Protection Policy and the creation of the National Social Safety Net Coordination Office (NASSCO) to coordinate all existing social assistance programmes in the country. Current social protection programmes include a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Programme focused on providing NGN5,000 (USD$16) a month to one million extremely poor Nigerians and a National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) providing one meal a day to 5.5 million public primary school children. There are also labour market programmes, such as the N-Power Programme - a job creation and skills empowerment programme for young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 35, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP). These programmes, for the most part, do not include informal workers, including domestic workers. Given the important role of the paid domestic work sector to the Nigerian economy, it is vital to ensure that social protection is extended to them – and broader informal workers.Challenges to Extension of Social Protection Coverage Extending social protection coverage to domestic workers is not without its challenges, particularly in the Nigerian context where the current social protection strategy already faces policy inconsistency, a lack of reliable data, funding and accountability, low coverage and targeting issues.With respect to paid domestic work, coverage of social security, worker’s rights and minimum wage guarantees are usually limited to workers in the formal economy. Domestic workers in the country do not tend to fall under this category of employment and are often excluded from such considerations. Being invisible and isolated, with a lack of time off, freedom of movement, and few social networks, makes the opportunity for domestic workers to bargain collectively to improve their living and working conditions difficult. Collective organising of domestic workers is also at early stages in Nigeria. In July 2011, for example, the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organisation of Nigeria (FIWON), an umbrella organisation for self-employed Nigerians in the informal economy, attempted to organise domestic workers into a union. FIWON organised a one-day workshop, ‘Building a Union to Fight for Domestic Workers’ Rights and Respect at Work: Challenges and Opportunities’, in which twenty domestic workers came together to call for job security and improved working conditions to enable them to live decent lives and contribute to national development. Yet, awareness of rights may not lead to action as high turnover, and the inability to speak up for fear of losing their job, makes it even harder for domestic workers to demand for their rights, such as having written contracts to enable negotiations of their conditions of work.Domestic workers low and irregular salary is another barrier to being able to pay in to contributory social security benefits. In Nigeria, domestic workers’ salary ranges from nothing or being paid in-kind to as little as NGN1500 (USD$5) a month, with average salaries being around NGN13,000 (USD$38). As such, certain social insurance schemes may only be affordable to workers if it is free or subsidised. Moreover, procedures to register and contribute to social protection schemes were traditionally designed for formal companies or public institutions, leading to employers’ having limited knowledge or lack of willingness to solicit information on legal requirements and procedures to register domestic workers to social security benefits. Opportunities for Extension of Social Protection Coverage Despite these sector specific challenges, along with the broader social protection ones, there are ways to expand social protection to include domestic workers. There is scope within a number of policies in the country for further inclusion of domestic workers. Article 54 of the Labour Act could be reviewed and revised to ensure that domestic workers’ rights to maternity leave are not denied. Similarly, Article 88(1)(d) of the Labour Act and the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act could be revised to ensure that domestic workers are included and are paid at least the national minimum wage, in accordance with Article 11 of C189. It is also recommended that Nigeria ratifies C189.‘Extending social insurance to informal workers is complicated, but not impossible’. Recognising the specificity of domestic work, social assistance programmes that are non-contributory or have a reduced contribution can be considered. Non-contributory rates are particularly important for those workers with limited or no contributory capacity, such as social assistance in the form of universal child grants and maternity benefits. A child grant can support women workers with young children with child care costs, while maternity benefit can provide them with some income during periods when they are unable to work.For those domestic workers with some contributory capacity, extending social insurance schemes can be done at a reduced rate. Countries, including Argentina, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Philippines, Spain and Uruguay apply a lower contribution rate for domestic workers than that applied to other salaried workers. As such, the State should explore contributory schemes that do not only rely on contributions from workers themselves, but also from other actors such as employers. For example, domestic workers in South Africa are covered by the Unemployment Insurance Fund into which their employers must contribute. Awareness can also be raised more broadly on domestic workers’ rights and social protection, as well as the role of unions to improve domestic workers’ working conditions, through lobbying and collective action. This will involve a range of actors working together with the State including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and trade union organisations such as FIWON to conduct awareness raising campaigns on the need for social protection targeting the domestic workers. The recognition, promotion and protection of domestic workers’ rights will also require willingness to learn from employers.Lessons can also be learned from African countries, such as Zambia which is working towards extending social protection provision to domestic workers. One way this is being done is through existing partnerships. In Zambia, public institutions in charge of the provision of social protection benefits, Ministries involved in social protection, and employers and workers organisations are working together to identify common policy options and raise awareness of social protection for domestic workers. There is also strong interest in social protection benefits, including pension, work injury protection and Social Health Insurance (SHI) benefits from both employers and employees, with employers stating their willingness to register their workers if contributions remain affordable and payments are made easy. Employers and employees are also willing to learn about social protection legal requirements and procedures. There is increasing global attention on decent work for domestic workers with the adoption of ILO C189 and Recommendation 201. Although C189 is yet to be ratified in Nigeria, with the expansion of social protection in the country, there are opportunities to expand social protection to domestic workers and work towards addressing existing discrimination of their rights and social protection.Download the bibliographyThis think-piece draws from the author’s own research on paid domestic work in Nigeria.#page-article-other .items h4.related-title { font-family: futura-pt-condensed,sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 150%; font-weight: medium; padding: 0; margin: 0; clear: both; color: #1CABE2; margin-bottom: 20px; visibility: hidden; position: relative; } h4.related-title:after { visibility: visible; position: absolute; content: "THINK PIECES"; top: 0; left: 0; }

Events

What does gender-responsive social protection have to do with the climate crisis?
Event

What does gender-responsive social protection have to do with the climate crisis?

With the increased recognition of the important role social protection plays in securing household and gender-equitable security and response to shocks, the webinar will feature a panel of leading experts on gender, climate change and social protection. These experts will convene to investigate what and how current social protection policies and programmes have addressed climate change impacts, and how gender responsive and age sensitive they are or not. It will discuss:
Gender-sensitive social protection
Event

Gender-sensitive social protection

The pandemic has exposed the fault lines in social, political and economic systems and demonstrates the need for critical investment in robust social protection frameworks that reduce the impact of shocks, particularly on the most vulnerable. Women and marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by school closures, unpaid care work, gender-based violence and unemployment, and we need to consider the long-term implications of the pandemic’s gendered impacts.The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how gender interacts with age, disability, caste, race and class to influence educational attainment, care provision, livelihood security, technological accessibility, healthcare availability and economic independence. This webinar has discussed the political economy of gender-sensitive social protection and drawn upon empirical research in various countries to outline recommendations for a gender-sensitive social protection system drawing from the lessons of the pandemic.
Gender-responsive social protection in times of COVID-19
Event

Gender-responsive social protection in times of COVID-19

UNICEF Innocenti hosted a roundtable discussion on gender-responsive social protection during COVID-19 at socialprotection.org's 2020 e-conference.

Project countries

Project team

Ramya Subrahmanian

UNICEF Innocenti

Elena Camilletti

UNICEF Innocenti

Kaku Attah Damoah

UNICEF Innocenti

Valeria Groppo

UNICEF Innocenti

Frank Otchere

UNICEF Innocenti

Roselyn Sekai Kapungu

UNICEF Innocenti

Nyasha Tirivayi

UNICEF Innocenti

Mathilde Van Drooghenbroeck

UNICEF Innocenti

Partners

Related

Innocenti Project(s) 2016-2021:

Applied Behavioural Science

Disrupting harm

Ethical research for children

Global Kids Online

Humanitarian research

Mental Health

Time to Teach

Innocenti Project(s) 2016-2018:

Ethical research and children

PROJECTS ARCHIVE

Conference and meetings

Gender-responsive social protection in times of COVID-19

How do national social protection strategies and programmes integrate gender considerations?

Gender and the Evidence Functions in Social Development

Experts' workshop on gender-responsive and age-sensitive social protection

GRASSP: Unleashing the potential of social protection for girls and women

UNICEF Innocenti @ CSW64

Blogs

Caring in the time of COVID-19: Gender, unpaid care work and social protection

Grasping a more equal future — understanding age and gender in social protection

Gender norms, intersectionality and social protection: In conversation with UNICEF's Dr Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed

Reducing poverty while achieving gender equality: the potential of social protection

¿Son sensibles al género las transferencias monetarias en América Latina?

Are Cash Transfers in Latin America Gender-Sensitive?

Can social protection be a driver of gender equality?

Podcasts

The impact of social protection on gender equality in low and middle-income countries

Think Pieces

GRASSP Think Pieces Series

GRASSP Think Pieces Bibliographies

Conference reports

Filling the gaps to achieve gender equality

Flyer

The GRASSP project at a glance

What's new

Exploring How Gender Equality Can Be Achieved Through Social Protection

Social Protection: A Key Component for Achieving Gender Equality