Share the Load – Raising Awareness on Unpaid Care Work in Sri Lanka.
To conclude our Unpaid Care Work Mini Project, the Nation Forum of Women with Disabilities (NFWD) organised an engaging awareness-raising event titled “Share the Load.”
Unpaid care and domestic work includes essential everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning, caring for children and older persons, and supporting persons with disabilities. However, this work often remains invisible and is disproportionately carried out by women.
In Sri Lanka, approximately 86% of unpaid care and domestic work is carried out by women, who spend an average of 6.5 hours per day on unpaid work, compared with 2.6 hours for men. This unequal distribution of care responsibilities can limit women’s opportunities for education, employment, economic participation, and financial independence.
“Share the Load” aimed to raise awareness about this inequality in a fun, practical, and engaging way.
We invited men to literally “share the load” by taking part in everyday household activities, including cooking, peeling onions, and folding sarees. Through these activities, participants experienced firsthand the time, effort, patience, and skills required for work that is often taken for granted.
The event was filled with laughter, teamwork, friendly competition, and new experiences. Participants also took part in an interactive quiz and discussion about unpaid care work, its impact on women and families, and the importance of sharing care responsibilities more equally.
For women with disabilities, unpaid care responsibilities can create additional barriers to participation in education, employment, community life, and decision-making. Recognising, valuing, and fairly distributing care work is therefore an important part of building a more inclusive and gender-equal society.
The event provided an opportunity not only to have fun, but also to reflect on how families and communities can work together to recognise, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work.
A sincere thank you to Women and Media Collective for supporting this initiative and to all participants, volunteers, and partners who contributed their time and energy.
Sharing the load is everyone’s responsibility. Together, we can create a future where care work is valued, recognised, and shared more equally.
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