Content Editor: Alison McLean, Isiuwa Iyahen and Sharon Carter-Burke

While leaders and the business community discuss when and how to open economies, it is critical that we think about the impact this will have on families, parents and those who care for the elderly. The work that happens inside the home, cooking, cleaning, care of children, and care of the elderly is called care-work. Although some families benefit from the support of domestic workers, most of the work done is unpaid or underpaid.

Globally, women do three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men, however no country in the Caribbean has ever completed a survey to fully assess the hours spent on unpaid care work or how this time is divided between women and men. UN Women has created guidelines for companies and governments with tangible steps that can be taken to ensure that families and parents are central in the decisions made in economic recovery. As the economy recovers, we cannot go back to business as usual. We need to build back better, in ways that value care work, women's contributions and gender equality more broadly.