UAE: Covid-19 revealed women’s unpaid labour, says gender auditor

UAE: Covid-19 revealed women’s unpaid labour, says gender auditor

Linda Sabbarini talks about female inclusion, equality

Published: Sat 2 Jul 2022, 1:43 PM

Shedding light on the disproportionate burden of unpaid care, gender auditor Linda Sabbarini emphasises the need to acknowledge domestic and childcare responsibilities that remain undervalued and to include them in state agendas, especially after the Covid-19 crisis that's proved to be a wakeup call for all.

The UAE-based half-Palestinian and half-French Sabbarini says, "This was something that not everyone was aware of. But the moment everyone was in lockdown, people figured the amount of unpaid care women do. So, it would be great that this issue becomes a priority on national agendas. This is now one of the prominent topics that the International Labor Organization (ILO) is also talking about because pandemic has led to a lot of learning outcomes especially on unpaid care."

Having acquired a gender audit certification from the ILO, the 44-year-old Dubai resident underlines her role doesn't mean initiating a battle to replace one gender with the other. She explains, "People who resist the concept of gender equality often view it as women wanting to replace men or women wanting to put men on the side. But that's not the case. Women and men must be