Mapping South Africa’s Care Regime: Pathways to a Care-Focused Social Policy

The document analyzes South Africa's care regime, emphasizing that both paid and unpaid care work are fundamental to economic stability and societal well-being. It highlights the systemic undervaluation of caregiving, which disproportionately burdens women and hinders economic participation. The author proposes a transformative national care policy that integrates an ethic of care into social policy to promote inclusive growth and address inequities based on race, gender, and economic status.

• Care work in South Africa, comprising paid services and unpaid labor, is an essential but undervalued economic component that enables labor market participation but faces challenges including inadequate funding and limited accessibility.
• Unpaid caregiving is economically invisible and reinforces gendered norms and economic inequalities; on a global scale, it contributes the equivalent of 9% of GDP.
• The document advocates for a national care policy that integrates an ethic of care into social policy to elevate caregivers and address inequities related to race, gender, and economic status.

APA

iej_admin (2024). Mapping South Africa’s Care Regime: Pathways to a Care-Focused Social Policy. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/resource/discussion-paper/mapping-south-africas-care-regime-pathways-to-a-care-focused-social-policy/

Chicago

iej_admin. Mapping South Africa’s Care Regime: Pathways to a Care-Focused Social Policy. Institute for Economic Justice, 2024. https://iej.org.za/resource/discussion-paper/mapping-south-africas-care-regime-pathways-to-a-care-focused-social-policy/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=iej_admin |title=Mapping South Africa’s Care Regime: Pathways to a Care-Focused Social Policy |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=29 October 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/resource/discussion-paper/mapping-south-africas-care-regime-pathways-to-a-care-focused-social-policy/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{iejadmin2024mapping, author = {iej\_admin}, title = {{Mapping South Africa’s Care Regime: Pathways to a Care-Focused Social Policy}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/resource/discussion-paper/mapping-south-africas-care-regime-pathways-to-a-care-focused-social-policy/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }