Working Paper No.570 23 July 2009

From Unpaid to Paid Care Work

The Macroeconomic Implications of HIV and AIDS on Women's Time-tax Burdens

Rania Antonopoulos, and Taun Toay

This paper considers public employment guarantee programs in the context of South Africa as a means to address the nexus of poverty, unemployment, and unpaid work burdens—all factors exacerbated by HIV/AIDS. It further discusses the need for genderinformed public job creation in areas that mitigate the “time-tax” burdens of women, and examines a South African initiative to address social sector service delivery deficits within the government’s Expanded Public Works Programme. The authors highlight the need for well-designed employment guarantee programs—specifically, programs centered on community and home-based care—as a potential way to help offset the destabilizing effects of HIV/AIDS and endemic poverty. The paper concludes with results from macroeconomic simulations of such a program, using a social accounting matrix framework, and sets out implications for both participants and policymakers.

Download Working Paper No. 570 PDF (211.16 KB)

Research Topics

Associated Programs

  • Gender Equality and the Economy

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