Participants in the Third Advisory Group Meeting

Technical Advisory Group on GEH minutes

Unpaid Health Care: An Indicator of Equity

March 21, 2012

Pat Armstrong, PhD, DRP, FRSC

York University, Toronto, Canada

Unpaid health care is a gender issue, an equity issue and a human rights issue. It is a gender issue because women and girls throughout the world do the overwhelming majority of unpaid health care. It's an equity issue not only because women do much more of this labour and more of the labour that is most demanding and daily. It is also an equity issue because women with the fewest economic resources are the most likely to do the heaviest work and because those who need care experience inequities in the amount and quality of care they receive as a result.