What is care work, and why Spain’s experience shows it’s also an economic issue
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Care work – whether paid or unpaid – includes the daily labor of supporting the physical, emotional, and developmental needs of women and men across all ages. Care is a human right, and that reality is becoming clearer across Western Balkans economies, where 40 decision-makers - ministers, parliamentarians, and civil society leaders - looked to Spain’s experience to rethink how care systems are designed, funded, and valued.
This took place during the High-Level Regional Policy Exposure Visit on Care System Transformation, organized under UN Women's Transform Care initiative, supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and conducted in partnership with the Spanish Cooperation entity FIAP, which promotes the participation of public administrations in Spanish and European cooperation programmes.
Why care work matters for economies, not just households
In the Western Balkans, women provide on average 2.6 times more unpaid care work than men. This significantly limits their time, choices, and opportunities for education, decent paid work, and political participation. At the same time, demographic change, population ageing, labour market pressures, and ongoing gender inequalities are driving the need to transform care systems. This has become a strategic priority across the Western Balkans, including aligning care systems with the European Care Strategy as part of the EU accession process.
“We are doing this visit because the care economy is a central area of our support to the Western Balkans. We have strong evidence that care work is essential to the sustainability of our societies, and it is mostly carried out by women. This study visit aims to draw lessons from Spain’s experience, which has made tremendous advancements in care systems, and to exchange with the Western Balkans on their efforts to improve them,” said Belén Sanz Luque, Regional Director for UN Women Europe and Central Asia.
Ministers and senior decision-makers from the Western Balkans are increasingly required to address care not only as a social policy issue, but as a key part of economic resilience, social protection systems, and gender equality.
Following exchanges with Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and 2030 Agenda, the Spanish Social Economy Employers’ Confederation, the Ministry of Foregin Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, as well as Plataforma and SEDOAC, participants gained practical insights into governance, financing, and workforce development. The discussions focused on building systems that recognize and reduce unpaid care work, while creating more opportunities for women's education and decent paid work in the Western Balkans and beyond.
Francisco Tierraseca, director of FIAP, underscored the role of institutional cooperation in this regard. “Our work is about connecting institutions and strengthening public policies, especially those related to equality between men and women, as well as care policies,” said Tierraseca.
From lessons to real-life changes in the Western Balkans
Miodrag Pajtović, Chief of Staff to the Office of the Minister without Portfolio in the Government of Serbia in charge of gender equality, prevention of domestic violence and economic and political empowerment of women, noted that one change is urgently needed in how care is approached. “In the Western Balkans, where populations are ageing quickly, we often focus too much on elder care alone. At the same time, we need to pay much more attention to informal carers. The key lesson is that systems must fit people’s needs, not the other way around. Investing in inclusive care systems means investing in stronger economies and gender equality,” he concluded.
The visit also included in-depth discussions with the Community of Madrid, the Sub-Department for Women and Equal Opportunities, the General Directorate for Women, the Ministry of Equality, and private sector leaders such as Applus+ IDIADA. A shared conviction emerged: moving towards robust, accessible, and fair care systems is essential for social cohesion, gender equality, and decent working conditions. The discussions also underscored the invaluable role of the social economy in transforming care.
“The social economy provides a unique framework because it places people, social needs, and the collective interest at its core. Care requires proximity, stability, trust, quality employment, and local roots. These are the exact features that define the social economy,” was one of the main conclusions of Spain's Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.
“We are returning to the Western Balkans ready to translate these elements of the Spanish model into action. Strengthening care is not only about expanding services; it is also about intentionally choosing the economic and labour models that delivers those services equitably,” stated Biljana Pejović, Head of the Gender Equality Department, Ministry of Human and Minority Rights.
Seven key takeaways of the study visit:
- Public funding is essential to advancing gender equality and reforming care systems.
- Care must be recognized as foundational to both the economy and society, not an "extra" policy area.
- Expanding services must go hand-in-hand with ensuring fair working conditions for care workers.
- Care systems should reflect real needs and offer personalized, flexible and adaptable support.
- Real change is only possible when the people affected by these policies are at the heart of the reform.
- Care reform must be fundamentally anchored in human rights.
- Care extends far beyond childcare or eldercare; it sustains families, communities, and entire economies.
This study visit marked the next stage of the “TransformCare Initiative,” following an intensive capacity-building programme on transforming care systems, and culminating in the Europe and Central Asia Care Forum, held on 11-12 May in Istanbul, Türkiye.