Integrating value of women's unpaid work in resource accounting systems

Description

Agenda 21 recommends the integration of the value of unpaid work, including work that is currently designated "domestic", in resource accounting mechanisms in order better to represent the true value of the contribution of women to the economy, using revised guidelines for the United Nations System of National Accounts, issued in 1993.

Context

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

Claim

There is an unwitting conspiracy on a global scale to undervalue women's work and contributions to society. In virtually every country in the world, women work longer hours than men, yet share less in the economic rewards. If women's work were accurately reflected in national statistics, it would shatter the myth that men are the bread winners of the world.