What is an Inclusive and Just Social Organisation of Care?

This the second article in a two-part series breaking down the meaning behind the 2025 Global Days of Action banner of “Progressive Taxation for an Inclusive and Just Social Organisation of Care.”

By: Maureen Mburu, GATJ Tax and Gender Lead & Africa Campaigns Coordinator

Why do we need to talk about care?

Care is a central pillar of any society.

Yet, historically, care work has been undervalued. Care public services are underfunded and shaped by gender disparities with women shouldering most caregiving responsibilities. Women, particularly those from low-income and marginalized communities, continue to bear the majority of caregiving responsibilities, both paid and unpaid, without adequate recognition or support. Despite their essential contributions, the paid care sector, where women constitute the majority in roles such as healthcare, domestic work, and early childhood education, remains plagued by low wages, poor working conditions, and inadequate social protections.

Increasingly, many countries are witnessing the privatization and commercialization of care services, treating care as an opportunity for profit rather than a fundamental right. This shift is deeply problematic for several reasons:

It exploits underpaid care workers, extracting wealth from their labor to maximize profits for investors and private entities.
It excludes low-income and racialized women, who cannot afford privatized care services, increasing their unpaid care burdens.
It undermines the role of the state, shifting care responsibilities from public institutions to individuals, further deepening inequality.

Traditional, outdated economic indicators frequently fail to capture the full value of care work, both paid and unpaid, despite its significant impact on economic growth and social well-being. Austerity measures and regressive tax policies implemented in all countries have profound negative implications for the social organisation of care, exacerbating gender inequalities, privatising and reducing access to essential care public services, diminishing the role of the state and increasing the unpaid care burden on women.

Addressing these imbalances requires the political will to rebuild the social organisation in addition to and beyond care outside of only increasing financial support; it necessitates strategically reclaiming care as a human right and a public good, connecting progressive taxation and gender-transformative spending. Care is a human right and it must be recognised as such to view care as a public and common good.

Why the social organisation of care?

The social organisation of care is more than just the care economy. As a member of the Rebuilding the Social Organisation of Care (RSOC) core group, GATJ has supported a broader framing of this issue as reflected in PSI’s Advocacy Guide:

“The ‘care economy’ concept frames care as an economic sector that generates jobs and supports economic activities. But it also portrays care as an individual commodity that is for sale, rather than a collective social and public good.”

Rather than limiting our understanding of care to something that is to be financialised, we are broadening it to an understanding of care as underpinning life itself.

What is an inclusive and just social organisation of care?

When we talk about an inclusive and just social organisation of care, we are talking about the 5 R’s of Care from our joint care manifesto:

Recognise the social and economic value of care work (paid or unpaid) and the human right to care.
Reward, remunerate and represent care work and care workers with professionalised work, equal pay for work of equal value, adequate pensions, comprehensive social protection, healthy and safe working conditions, strong representation, unionisation, and collective bargaining and social dialogue in line with the ILO Decent Work Agenda.
Reduce the burden of unpaid care work on women.
Redistribute care work within households, among all workers, eliminating the sexual division of labour, and between households and State.
Reclaim the public nature of care services and restore the duty and the primary responsibility of the State to provide public care services and develop care systems that transform gender relations and women’s lives – including by financing State’s capacity to invest through fair and progressive taxation and ensuring internationally equal taxing rights of nation States.

How does care relate to tax justice?

Rebuilding the social organization of care demands a fundamental shift: care must be recognized as a public good and a human right, rather than an individual or private burden. This requires substantial investment in publicly funded, high-quality, and accessible care services, ensuring fair wages and decent working conditions for care workers, and equitably redistributing caregiving responsibilities across society. Progressive taxation is key to achieving this transformation, as it creates the financial foundation needed to sustain a care system that is inclusive, just, and sustainable.

Governments must design and adopt fair tax policies that generate sufficient revenue from those most able to contribute and allocate these funds to publicly owned and operated services that advance gender equality, such as childcare, healthcare, social care, and social protection. By ensuring equitable resource distribution, progressive taxation can help ease the disproportionate caregiving burden on women and expand access to essential public services. The link between fair taxation and gender-transformative public spending is essential to building a society that is more just, inclusive, and centered on care.

For a truly equitable and sustainable care system, governments must increase public investment in care services, ensure decent work for care workers, including fair wages, representation, and dignified working conditions, and implement policies that address the gendered nature of caregiving. Rebuilding the social organization of care is not only a moral and social responsibility but also an economic necessity—a well-supported care system strengthens workforce participation, reduces inequality, and fosters social cohesion.

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