Labour Day reminds us to recognise and celebrate the contributions of workers across all sectors, those who power industries, deliver services and drive economic growth. It is a day that honours effort, productivity and the dignity of work.

Yet, beyond the formal workforce lies a critical dimension of labour that often goes unseen and unrecognised: unpaid care work.

Across households and communities in Tanzania, unpaid care work forms the backbone of daily life. It includes caring for children and the sick, preparing meals, cleaning and ensuring that households function effectively. In many cases, it also involves time-intensive tasks such as fetching water. This work is essential, not only for the wellbeing of families, but for the functioning of the broader economy. Without it, the formal labour market would not operate the way it does.

Despite its importance, unpaid care work is rarely reflected in economic measurements or adequately addressed in policy frameworks.

As Tanzania advances towards its long-term development aspirations, including Vision 2050, there is growing recognition that achieving inclusive growth requires a more comprehensive understanding of how labour is distributed across society. Unpaid care work sits at the centre of this conversation. It shapes how individuals allocate their time, influences who is able to participate in paid employment and ultimately determines how economic opportunities are accessed and shared.

The Equal Time, Equal Power policy brief and other research by the Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), highlights the structural imbalance that defines this form of labour.

Evidence shows that unpaid care work is both time-intensive and unevenly distributed. In rural Tanzania, women and girls often travel long distances, sometimes up to 20–30 kilometres, to fetch water, a task that consumes a significant portion of their day and limits opportunities for income-generating activities.

At the household level, the baseline findings revealed that:

• Mothers are the primary responsibility holders for water collection (33%), compared to fathers (17.2%)
• Women are responsible for the majority of household chores, including fetching water (56.4%) and environmental maintenance (50.9%)
• Only 24% of women own businesses, with unpaid care responsibilities cited as a key constraint

These findings reinforce a critical insight: unpaid care work directly limits women’s economic participation.

Supporting evidence from broader Tanzania-based research shows that women spend significantly more time on unpaid care work, approximately 4.4 hours per day compared to 1.4 hours for men, further illustrating the gendered imbalance in time allocation.

As highlighted in the policy brief, unpaid care work is often “invisible in social and economic policies, yet hinders women and girls’ opportunities for paid work, education, and political participation.”

This imbalance has far-reaching implications, which is when a significant portion of time is devoted to unpaid responsibilities, opportunities for paid employment, entrepreneurship, education, and skills development become limited. In turn, labour force participation declines, productivity is reduced, and gender inequalities are reinforced.

For these reasons, unpaid care work must be understood not only as a social issue, but as a fundamental economic concern.

At a macro level, the implications are clear: when women are constrained by unpaid care responsibilities, economies lose out on a substantial share of potential productivity and innovation. Addressing unpaid care work is therefore not only about equity—it is about unlocking economic growth.

The policy brief and related ESRF research point to a set of actionable solutions.

• There is a need for greater recognition of unpaid care work within national statistics and development planning. Without visibility, it remains difficult to design effective interventions.
• Efforts must focus on reducing the burden of unpaid care work through investments in infrastructure and services. For example, improving water access can significantly cut down the hours spent on water collection, one of the most time-intensive care tasks in rural Tanzania.
• There is a need to promote the redistribution of care responsibilities more equitably across households and communities. This includes addressing social norms that assign care work primarily to women and girls.
• Fully integrate the value of unpaid care work into national accounts and GDP, building on Tanzania’s commitment under the Generation Equality Forum (GEF).
• Finally, ensuring representation, that women’s voices and lived experiences inform policy decisions, is essential for creating responsive and inclusive systems.

Through its research, policy engagement, and stakeholder dialogue, ESRF continues to play a critical role in shaping these conversations. Its work not only generates evidence but also contributes to practical, policy-oriented solutions that support inclusive development.

As we commemorate Labour Day, it is important to broaden our understanding of what constitutes “work.” Recognising unpaid care work is not simply about fairness, it is about building an economy that reflects the realities of how society functions and ensuring that no contribution goes unseen.

An inclusive and sustainable future depends on acknowledging all forms of labour, valuing them appropriately and creating systems that support everyone to participate fully in economic life.

Let us recognise not only the work we see, but also the work that makes all other work possible.