Unpaid Care Work Among Utah Women: A 2024 Update

Unpaid work, including childcare, eldercare, housework, and other tasks, is vitally important to the foundations of strong families, communities, and nations. According to Oxfam, the monetary value of women’s unpaid work is estimated to be $10.8 trillion each year, and women worldwide spend a significantly larger portion of time than men performing this critical work. This happens for many reasons, including personal values and choices, cultural and social norms, unconscious biases, and specific economic and employment considerations. The Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) recently published a research snapshot about unpaid care work among Utah women in 2024, which is the topic of this episode. 

Dr. Susan Madsen, Founding Director of the UWLP, is joined by two guests. First, Dr. Kristy Hodson, a UWLP research fellow and the lead author of the research. She is also an instructor in the College of Health Professions at Western Governors University. Second, Lisa Reeves, a co-leader for A Bolder Way Forward’s Home & Family spoke. She is an advocate for women’s issues and is currently doing graduate work at Harvard University.