PRB's role in the Counting Women's Work project
An interview with Aïssata Fall – PRB Regional Representative for West and Central Africa
By Charlotte Greenbaum
What is PRB's role in the project?
PRB is responsible for the Hewlett Foundation grant and, in partnership with UCB and CREG, provides technical assistance to research teams in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Togo, Benin and Senegal on the analysis of national transfer accounts and women’s unpaid work time – i.e. time spent caring for the family – and links with economic growth.
« PRB particularly supports the development of research application plans and the communication of results to policy-makers. »
PRB is responsible for the Hewlett Foundation grant and, in partnership with UCB and CREG, provides technical assistance to research teams in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Togo, Benin and Senegal on the analysis of national transfer accounts and women’s unpaid work time – i.e. time spent caring for the family – and links with economic growth.
Why is women's unpaid work such an important issue in West Africa?
Research into women’s unpaid work offers an innovative perspective for broadening policy dialogue on the importance of reconsidering women’s place and economic function within the household when formulating social policy objectives or health policies, for example, to enable them to play their full part in inclusive economic growth.
The added value of women’s unpaid work, in particular for the good health and well-being of families – two conditions for the effective participation of family members in growth – is not “naturally” taken into account in high-level discussions on economic development. No thought is given to considering the “work” value of caring for the whole family, while securing indispensable social ties with the community.
Yet it is these same women who, among other things, guarantee the nutritional quality of meals, and pass on and enforce good hygiene practices. A role that proves crucial, for example, during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet some of these women, who ensure the family’s stability and health, remain invisible in their own right because they are not linked to the employment sector. Housewives are still too widely considered to be only “in the community”, while community support is insufficient to meet their specific needs.
Talking about women’s unpaid work and its importance means making them visible in their social and economic function, and considering them fully as determining factors in economic growth.
I’ve worked for over 10 years on social protection policies and strategies for the most vulnerable, but I’ve never heard of valuing unpaid work related to family care. This would have enabled me to develop other arguments for the inclusion of social protection for the poorest in the national budget, but also to take a different approach to the categories targeted by certain interventions. Measuring this unpaid work makes it possible to put a value on this role played by women, and thus to better inform policy-making on issues of equity, work, well-being and economic growth – and also to argue the cost of inaction if this function is not supported in a relevant way by these same policies.
Why is political communication an important component of this particular project?
Strategic political communication is particularly important for this project, as the usual analyses of economic activity only include care work if it is provided for remuneration. What’s more, placing a monetary value on unpaid care work – the majority of which is performed by women – overturns the classic, culturally-rooted way of thinking about the value of tasks traditionally divided between men and women.
It is therefore essential to know how to use the data provided by research to describe its implications for the development goals set and the commitments made by governments. The use of strategic policy communication tools can streamline debates and support evidence-informed policy dialogue.
And beyond the creation of communication products, this political communication work is inseparable from the work of engaging the various stakeholders. For it is also important to support spaces for dialogue in which research findings or communication products will be used and debated to build a common understanding of the importance of women’s unpaid work.
What is your vision for the blog and for the impact of the project more broadly?
I hope that the project and this blog will help to increase interest in unpaid work, but also to give greater visibility to the work carried out by African researchers in French-speaking countries.
Dedicating a French-language blog to the subject provides a forum for discussion for researchers in the region, who are at a significant disadvantage compared to their English-speaking colleagues, as research is primarily published and discussed in English.
This blog is also a less formal space for the various players in the project to express their opinions, while remaining a space whose quality is guaranteed by the fact that it is hosted by the CREG, which, as an affiliate of several international organizations, offers an interesting showcase for French-speaking researchers.
Beyond women’s unpaid work, the blog will also inform and discuss the importance of evidence-based policy-making. I also hope it will raise questions about the effective use of the vast amount of research that has been carried out, but which all too often goes unheeded.
