Civil society organisations (CSOs) are calling on Parliament to enact legislation that recognises, reduces, and redistributes unpaid care and domestic work, arguing that the burden continues to disproportionately affect women and girls across the country.
An advocacy coalition, led by Padare/Enkundleni Men’s Forum, presented research showing that women spend several hours each day fetching water, gathering firewood, and managing households without economic reward or rest.
Women’s rights groups said that despite the contribution of unpaid care work to households and the broader economy, it remains invisible in national budgeting and policy frameworks.
Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development ministry principal gender officer, Agness Nhengo, said enacting a policy framework for unpaid care and domestic work would ensure that proper resources are allocated to support women and girls.
“Unpaid care work is really important to us as the ministry. We note it as a very important pillar of our society as well as our economy,” Nhengo said.
“The unpaid care and domestic responsibilities are always on the shoulders of women as they collect firewood and take care of their children and older persons”.
Padare called for increased investment in public infrastructure such as water systems, healthcare facilities, childcare centres, and clean energy solutions to reduce the time women spend on domestic tasks.
Parliamentary portfolio committee on women affairs, community, and small and medium enterprises development acting chairperson Johnson Matambo said formalising domestic work would also protect workers from exploitation and abuse.
“We have also appreciated the importance of formalising domestic work so that domestic workers enjoy dignity, fair remuneration, occupational safety, social protection, and protection from exploitation and abuse,” Matambo said.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, women spend significantly more hours on unpaid domestic and care work than men, a situation experts say perpetuates poverty and economic dependence.
Lupane West Member of Parliament Mxolisi Sibanda said domestic work remains largely invisible in national accounts, with government allocating insufficient funds to relevant ministries.
“Until Zimbabwe formally counts, funds and shares the care work that women perform daily, we will continue building our national development on a foundation we refuse to acknowledge,” Sibanda said.
“That is a contradiction that Parliament now has the power and responsibility to resolve”.
Gender activists warned that failure to address unpaid care work will continue to undermine women’s empowerment and national development goals.
The CSOs are calling for urgent legislative reforms to ensure care work is recognised as a shared social and economic responsibility rather than a private burden carried mainly by women.
Their key legislative demands include mandating the government to scientifically calculate and include the monetary value of unpaid care work in national economic data.
The proposals also seek the allocation of specific fiscal resources for childcare centres, clean water infrastructure, and accessible health facilities to reduce the domestic workload.