Relatório de prestação de contas

This policy brief by the Institute for Economic Justice examines the intersection between unpaid care work and gender-based violence (GBV) in Brazil and South Africa. It argues that economic crises and austerity measures exacerbate the 'crisis of care', increasing women's vulnerability to violence. The document proposes a multi-pronged approach including universal basic income, gender-responsive budgeting, and intersectional data collection to empower women economically and reduce GBV.

• Women in Brazil and South Africa perform the majority of unpaid care work, and this burden is particularly high for women of color. In Brazil, women perform 65% of unpaid care work within families, a contribution that would account for at least 13% of the country's GDP if recognized economically. In South Africa, women dedicate approximately 13.3% of their time to care activities, which is nearly double the 7.6% dedicated by men.
• There is a strong link between economic crises, unpaid care burdens, and gender-based violence (GBV). Recessions and financial crises increase the vulnerability of women—who often engage in unpaid or underpaid work—to GBV. The Covid-19 pandemic intensified this, with worldwide estimates suggesting over 15 million cases of intimate partner violence for every three months of lockdown.
• Structural inequalities and the 'motherhood penalty' significantly impact women's earnings and employment. In South Africa, Black women face an unemployment rate of 39.8%. In Brazil, black women earn 71.31% less than white men, while white women earn 20.42% less than white men. The 'motherhood penalty' is cited as constituting 80% of the gender pay gap.
• Both Brazil and South Africa face severe GBV challenges. Brazil is ranked as the fifth country with the highest number of femicides, with reports stating a woman is raped every 10 minutes and a femicide occurs every seven hours. In South Africa, the rate of women being killed by intimate partners is five times higher than the global average.
• Austerity measures in South Africa and Brazil have hindered the development of care infrastructure. In South Africa, social spending in health and education departmental programs has not kept pace with inflation since the Covid-19 pandemic, rolling back expenditure during a critical period.
• The brief recommends four primary policy actions: implementing employment-focused public works programmes for unemployed women, establishing a universal basic income for low-income unemployed women, investing in intersectional disaggregated data research, and committing to Gender Responsive Budgeting Frameworks for national budgets.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (n.d.). Relatório de prestação de contas. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/T20-TF01-Care-Economy-and-GBV.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Relatório de prestação de contas. n.d. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/T20-TF01-Care-Economy-and-GBV.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Relatório de prestação de contas |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/T20-TF01-Care-Economy-and-GBV.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjusticendrelatrio, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Relatório de prestação de contas}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/T20-TF01-Care-Economy-and-GBV.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }