15/02/2026

ON SUNDAY February 15, 2026 theSunday Special IX

“When women hire other women to perform their reproductive labour, they become part of the localised bourgeoisie – both exploited and exploiters at once,” she added. The future of feminised labour As Malaysia moves toward an ageing SRSXODWLRQ SURMHFWHG WR EH RQH LQ ¿YH Malaysians aged 60 or above by 2030, the demand for care work will only grow. Without structural reform, this demand will continue to fall disproportionately on women. Experts argue that public investment in affordable childcare, eldercare fa FLOLWLHV DQG ÀH[LEOH ZRUN RSWLRQV FRXOG help redistribute this burden. Moreover, including unpaid care work in national accounts would make its value visible – both economically and socially. Some progress is being made. In 2023, the Department of Statistics Malaysia be gan exploring ways to incorporate unpaid household production into its satellite accounts. Civil society organisations such as the Women’s Aid Organisation and Empower Malaysia have also called for improved social protection for informal carers, including pension schemes and paid respite care. But progress is slow. Cultural expecta tions remain deeply rooted, with many Malaysians still viewing domestic work as a woman’s duty rather than a shared responsibility. Valuing what cannot be measured As the Gerakbudaya discussion ended, one participant asked how society could ever repay women for centuries of unpaid care. “It’s not about repayment. It’s about recognition – about seeing care as central WR OLIH QRW VHFRQGDU\ WR SUR¿W ´ $HLQ VDLG smiling. Her words echoed a simple truth that transcends theory or policy: Societies survive because someone cares enough to do the work that no one counts. In the end, the real question is not whether women’s unpaid labour sustains the economy – it’s whether the economy, as it stands, deserves to be sustained on their backs.

“It’s when a woman is paid to clean and care for someone else’s children, only to return home and do the same without a salary,” she said. This double shift not only drains time and energy but also restricts women’s mobility and career progression. Research by the World Bank (2023) found that Ma laysian women’s labour force participation stands at around 56%, compared to men’s 81% – one of the widest gender gaps in Southeast Asia. Many women drop out of the workforce due to family responsi bilities, illustrating how unpaid care work GLUHFWO\ D̆ HFWV HFRQRPLF JURZWK Global chains of feminised labour The problem extends beyond individual households. Globally, capitalism depends on what feminist scholars call the global care chain. This refers to the movement of care labour – often from poorer women in the Global South to wealthier households in the North or urban centres. Malaysia’s dependence on foreign domestic workers, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, is one example. According to the Malaysian Employers Federation, there were around 400,000 domestic workers in Malaysia in 2024, WKRXJK WKH DFWXDO ¿JXUH PD\ EH KLJKHU due to undocumented workers. These women leave their own children behind to care for someone else’s family. “It’s an unequal exchange. Women from lower-income countries sell their re productive labour to middle-class families ZKR FDQ D̆ RUG LW FUHDWLQJ D KLHUDUFK\ RI exploitation even among women,” noted Aein. T KLV VKH DUJXHG UHÀHFWV KRZ FDSLWDO ism and patriarchy work hand-in-hand. Patriarchal expectations dictate that women must provide care, while capital LVP FRPPRGL¿HV WKDW FDUH EXW RQO\ ZKHQ LW VHUYHV SUR¿W

Malaysia’s ageing population is expected to increase demand for caregiving services.

This perspective aligns with the ILO’s 5R Framework, which calls for: • Recognising unpaid care work • Reducing the need for excessive unpaid care • Redistributing responsibilities across genders • Rewarding paid care work fairly • Representing carers in policy decisions Without such a shift, unpaid carers – especially women- will remain at the margins of Malaysia’s economic planning. Invisible, yet indispensable During the Gerakbudaya session, Aein highlighted how social institutions from religion to education have long reinforced the link between patriarchy and capitalism. “Capitalism depends on patriarchy as one of its pillars. It relies on women’s free labour to create, feed and reproduce more workers for the system to survive,” she said. Indeed, every meal cooked, every child raised, every elderly parent bathed – these are acts that sustain life itself. Yet because they occur behind closed doors, they rarely appear in national statistics or boardroom discussions. For working-class women, the stakes DUH KLJKHU 7KRVH ZKR FDQQRW D̆ RUG WR outsource care are left juggling multiple unpaid and underpaid roles. At the same time, middle-class women often lean towards professional life by hiring poorer women to take over domestic duties.

This shift has sparked debate among gender economists. Recognising care as an economic activity could help quan tify women’s contributions. On the other hand, critics warn that commercialising care risks deepening inequality by valuing LW RQO\ ZKHQ LW JHQHUDWHV SUR¿W According to a 2022 ILO report, if unpaid care work were given a monetary value, it would account for over 10% of Malaysia’s GDP – nearly equivalent to the manufacturing sector’s contribution. Yet, those who perform this labour continue to receive little social protection, legal Malaysia has made efforts to address gender inequality through initiatives such as childcare subsidies, parental leave and ÀH[LEOH ZRUN DUUDQJHPHQWV %XW H[SHUWV say these policies still treat care as a private matter rather than a collective responsibility. There is a tendency to see unpaid care as something families should handle on their own. But when women bear the brunt of it, it limits their participation in public life and reinforces economic dependency. Recognising unpaid care as a social risk, rather than an economic opportunity, could reshape how society plans for it. “If we treat care like we treat retirement or unemployment, as something societies must collectively prepare for, then policies would shift from individual responsibility to shared support,” Aein said. recognition or rest. Policy blind spots

It’s an unequal exchange. Women from lower-income countries sell their reproductive labour to middle class families who can afford it.”

When care becomes a commodity In Malaysia, the conversation around unpaid labour has increasingly shifted into economic terms, especially after the pandemic. Policymakers now refer to the “care economy” – positioning caregiving as a new frontier for job creation and economic growth. Aein referenced studies by the Kha zanah Research Institute that examined how unpaid care labour is now seen as an “untapped economic resource” ripe for capital accumulation. “ 7KH UHFRQ¿JXUDWLRQ RI XQSDLG FDUH labour, catalysed by the pandemic, was articulated as the care economy in Malay sia’s policy discourse,” she said.

Domestic labour is the kind of work which contributes to reproducing the conditions for capitalism.”

Aein