Enabling recognition of unpaid care work in Sri Lanka

Dr. Sepali Kottegoda appeared on The People’s Platform on June 20th 2025 for a discussion on unpaid care work in Sri Lanka. She sheds light on how unpaid care work, primarily done by women, is essential to the country’s social and economic well-being yet remains largely unacknowledged in official statistics and public policy.

Key Takeaways:

• Economic invisibility: Despite its massive contribution to household and national productivity, care work is not counted in GDP or labor data.
• Policy Oversight: There is a lack of laws and public systems to support caregivers, which leads to gendered inequalities in employment, education, and income.
• Need for systematic reform: It is imperative for state intervention and investment in care infrastructure—like childcare and eldercare—to ease the burden on women.
• Shifting social norms: Reimagining care as a collective societal responsibility, rather than a private, female duty, is vital for achieving gender justice.

Ultimately, we as a society need a fundamental rethink of how we value labor and care, emphasizing the urgent need for recognition, redistribution, and reward of care work in Sri Lanka.

Explore our work on Unpaid Care work here.