The provision of unpaid care across cohorts and genders: A research note

Abstract

In this study, the caregiving history collected in the 2007 General Social Survey (GSS) is used to document the provision of care since the age of 15 years, the number of people helped, and the relationship with the care recipients. Using life tables, we confirm an upward trend in caregiving across birth cohorts. Unexpectedly, the findings also show that providing care starts at earlier ages in more recent cohorts-a result that appears partly linked to the emergence of new care relationships-and that the gender gap in the provision of care has widened over time.

SDG 5: Gender Equality – A Precondition for Sustainable Forestry

“…Unpaid care work adversely affects both women and men, though it lowers women's income more (Qi and Dong 2016, on China). Even in a context of increasingly egalitarian policies such as in Canada, the gendered care gap is widening, with women taking on the bulk of this work (Proulx 2016). Time-use studies have led to a recognition of women's unpaid work in both the Global North and South.…”