Implications of unpaid care work on the men's and women's social status in Goma Sub-County, Mukono District

Abstract

The study aimed at finding out the implications of unpaid care work on the men’s and women’s social status in Mukono district, Uganda. The study employed a case study design and adopted a qualitative research approach. The sample size comprised 32 participants Key Informants and nine focus group interviews whereby from the three villages the researcher conducted one focus group of men, one group for women and the third group for both men and women as the main instrument of data collection. The study findings revealed that many women dominate the caregiving role both at the household and community levels. Findings further revealed that social norms influence this division of unpaid care tasks. Unfortunately, due to the length of time spent on unpaid care work, women don’t get enough time to rest in the process of doing unpaid care work. One of the interesting findings from this study was that some men’s participation in unpaid care work raised varying reactions to and from some men and women in the communities. Some men who participate in caregiving, were perceived as not being real men or having something wrong in their understanding. On the other hand, those who did not engage in doing unpaid tasks were perceived as oppressors of women. In addition, women who opposed sharing household tasks with their partners, were fearing community attitudes of discrimination. For example, the community perceived men who supported and equally participated in care work as being oppressed by their wives or spouses. Yet, for the women, doing all the care work was not seen as a sign of oppression. Rather, such women were positively considered as being submissive to the spouses and doing unpaid care work was a normal and expected practice for good women. However, there should be more sensitisation in the communities about the few men who participate in unpaid care work to have security so that they can be looked at as models. The local council authorities should inform communities of the benefits of sharing unpaid care tasks in households and communities.