Unpaid and Undervalued: Women's Work and Pensions

Every day internationally, women work longer than men, but the majority of their time spent goes unrewarded financially. According to the latest figures for OECD countries, women report working an average of 481 minutes per day - six percent more than men's 454. As our infographic shows, 263 of women's working minutes are unpaid - consisting chiefly of caring responsibilities, housework and voluntary community work.

While providing immense value to families and society, the lack of economic value attributed to this kind of work can not only lead to financial hardship or disadvantage during the working lives of women, but also their pension income upon retirement.

Despite working longer than men, women receive an average of 26 percent less income than men from the pension system. As the OECD writes: "Even if younger women today will earn more of their pension entitlements, achieving gender equality in pensions will remain a challenge because of the persistent earnings gap and the different distribution of care tasks between parents." Adding: "Pension systems are not meant to address and solve these issues and, hence, a more comprehensive approach encompassing employment, social and family policies is required to tackle the challenges faced by women and working parents."