This 29 October marks the UN’s first official International Day for Care and Support, which recognises the legacy of the first International Day for Care founded four years ago by trade unions to accelerate public investment in to the care economy.

• This International Day of Care and Support seeks to foreground care and support as a cornerstone of sustainable development and accelerator for gender equality.
• It will allow all stakeholders to make, renew or enhance their commitment and take action to promote the rights of caregivers, care workers and those receiving care and support. 
• The global care workforce, of which two-thirds are women, has faced the impact of these policies, trapping millions in jobs where they are overworked, under paid and stuck in precarious work.
• Furthermore, the unfair distribution of unpaid care work, of which 76 per cent is done by women, perpetuates the gender gap in labour force participation of 27 per cent and the gender pay gap that remains frozen at 20 per cent.