Care at Work: Investing in Care Leave and Services for a More Gender Equal World of Work

Investing in care is central to the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work and the Global call to action for a human-centred recovery from the COVID-19 crisis that is inclusive, sustainable and resilient.

The MENA regional companion report is intended to complement the ILO’s report Care at Work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work (2022). It also offers a key input to the regional conference on Investing in Early Childhood Care and Education in the Arab Region for a more gender equal world of work held in Amman, Jordan (May, 2023). Drawing on the Care at Work (2022) report’s regional data and the results of the new ILO Care Policy Investment Simulator (2023), this companion report provides a review of the status and progress of legislation on care policies in MENA countries, including early childhood care and education (ECCE) services and programmes, and presents the investment case for a transformative package of care policies in 12 countries in the region. The simulation results support the global agenda to invest in care, showing the multiple benefits in terms of employment creation, return on investment and improvements to gender equality and social justice in the world of work.