How can we make the care economy work in Southeast Asia? | Hyeshin Park
Speaker: Hyeshin Park
Southeast Asia is on the brink of a major demographic transformation: fertility rates are going down, people are getting older, and as a result the demand for care services will explode in the coming years.
Today, it’s almost always women who provide those services for free at home. Tomorrow, asking women to do more is simply not going to work because the demand for such care services will be huge.
The solution is building strong, formal care sectors; with trained and certified professionals, and with facilities like daycare centres and nursing homes.
This is a big challenge: building a formal care economy demands investment and training. More fundamentally, we need to confront deep-rooted social norms that define women to be the caretakers at home.
But it is also a huge opportunity for gender equality in Southeast Asia: first because it will create quality jobs for women; and second, it will also free up their time for education and jobs outside the home.
Investing in a formal care economy now makes economic sense in Southeast Asia. It helps achieve gender equality too.
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