Domestic workers make it possible for millions of people to go to work, raise families and manage their daily lives. From caring for children and older people to cooking and cleaning, their work is essential to our societies and economies. Yet millions of domestic workers, most of them women, continue to face low wages, discrimination and limited workplace protections. Oxfam's new briefing paper, Time to Care for Care Workers, examines why this essential work remains so undervalued and what needs to change.

Around 79 percent of women domestic workers worldwide are informally employed, while only 6 percent of domestic workers have comprehensive social protection. The briefing paper examines how gender inequality, racism, colonialism and discriminatory immigration systems leave domestic workers, particularly migrant and marginalized women, vulnerable to exploitation. It also examines how underinvestment in public care services and the growing use of digital platforms for domestic work are creating new challenges for workers' rights.

Oxfam is calling on governments to recognize care as a human right and a public good, invest in public care services, strengthen labour protections, and ensure fair wages and social protection for domestic workers. Above all, the paper highlights the importance of domestic workers' movements and their decades of organizing for better working conditions and equal rights. Ending exploitation means putting their voices and leadership at the centre of decisions that affect their lives.