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3. Strengthen women’s income securitythroughout the life cycleDue to their unequal employment opportunitiesand predominance in low-paid occupations,women are particularly vulnerable to economicinsecurity and financial dependence. Householdsurveys show that women of prime working age aremore likely than men to live in a poor household, in41 out of 75 countries with data. Properly designedfiscal, wage and social protection policies—includingminimum wages, family and child allowancesand old-age pensions—can be powerful tools toreduce poverty, redress women’s socio-economicdisadvantage and guarantee their right to anadequate standard of living. These are particularlyimportant in the context of changing demographic,family and household structures and in the face ofeconomic shocks. Concrete steps can be taken tostrengthen women’s income security by:• Providing access to unemployment protection,including through public works programmes,and putting a floor under wages through welldesignedminimum wage policies, which arealso shown to reduce gender pay gaps• Providing child allowances to support familieswith the costs of raising children as well asnon-contributory pensions to ensure women’sincome security in old age• Making social transfers unconditional anduniversal where possible to avoid stigma andstereotyping• Ensuring cash transfer programmes havewomen’s rights at their heart by involvinggender equality advocates in their design andby using them as a mechanism for providingskills training and access to services thatenable women’s empowerment• Reforming contributory pension systems toreduce gender gaps in access and benefitlevels, including through the introduction ofcare credits to compensate for contributions‘lost’ during periods out of the labour forcelooking after dependents• Ensuring that all benefit levels are regularlyadjusted to increases in the cost of living.4. Recognize, reduce and redistributeunpaid care and domestic workUnpaid care and domestic work contribute toeconomic development and human well-beingthrough nurturing people who are fit, productiveand capable of learning and creativity. Butthe burden of doing this work is unequallydistributed. In the absence of adequate supportfor care services, women’s disproportionateresponsibility for unpaid care and domestic workreinforces their socio-economic disadvantageby constraining their access to education, healthcare and paid work as well as their participationin political and cultural life. In order to achievesubstantive equality for women, unpaid care anddomestic work need to be recognized, reducedand redistributed by:• Scaling up investments in basic infrastructure,including water and sanitation facilities thatare accessible, affordable and meet qualitystandards• Strengthening basic social services, suchas education and health, that complementunpaid caregiving and are an importantsource of employment for women• Providing support to unpaid care givers,ensuring that they have a voice in healthpolicy-making and recognizing them as partof, but not a substitute for, strong public caresystems• Providing accessible, affordable and qualitychild and elderly care that is responsive to theneeds of working parents and other unpaidcaregivers237