90% of caregivers in the Dominican Republic are unpaid women

Informality in the Dominican Republic continues to be one of the most complicated gaps for the government to close. However, there are other items that also have a directly proportional relationship with a society’s economic development.

An example of these cases is the people who, for different reasons, have to dedicate their lives to the care of others, eliminating the possibility of accessing academic training or acquiring a job.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) conducted a study that identified 90% of the people who care for others in the Dominican Republic as women, who do so without receiving any type of economic remuneration.

According to the report “Car” givers of the elderly, overburdened and underpaid” used in June 2024 by the IDB, if the Dominican State develops better public policies to improve caregivers’ conditions, this could increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by approximately 20%.

The World Bank identified this figure in 2020 in the report “Wom”n, Business and the Law,” which placed proportional labor inequality as the main challenge to achieving a higher GDP in the Latin American and Caribbean region.

The accumulated data comprising the 27,000 consultations carried out in more than 25 Latin American countries, including the Dominican Republic, show that 58% of the unpaid caregivers are “self-initiated.”

30.3% had no other option because they said they were the “only person who could,” and 2.8% accepted the request of “others.”

Employment and professional development
Conversely, 48% of unpaid caregivers report that they had to stop working because of their caregiving responsibilities.

Other consequences also include a reduction in work hours (reported by 20% of respondents), accepting a less satisfying job that is more compatible with caregiving responsibilities (17%), and fewer opportunities to advance and receive promotions (12%).

Eighty-two percent of family caregivers and 38% of unpaid home caregivers in Latin countries have no formal training. Unpaid caregiving has other negative effects, including a shortage of time and strain on family and social relationships.

Forty-eight % report that they are unable to receive the medical care they need because of their caregiving responsibilities. In addition, one in three unpaid caregivers report problems in their relationships with friends, family, or partners due to their caregiving responsibilities.

International program
The objective of the study conducted by the IDB is to build a program that will allow it to make funds available to try to mitigate this weakness in the financial improvement of member countries, including the Dominican Republic.

Through the “IDB Cares” initiative, Latin states can expand care services and infrastructure to improve the lives of children, the elderly, and people with disabilities and create more jobs.

” Strategic investments in care services and infrastructure are fundamental for sustainable economic growth, productivity, and the generation of opportunities for all in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said IDB President Ilan Goldfajn, who launched the initiative at the IDB Meetings held in Chile. The Minister of Finance, José Vicente, also participates in these working tables, and he handed over the presidency of the Assembly coordinating the annual work of the countries that comprise the financial body.

Although the international banking entity has not defined the money available for this project, the directors informed that the Dominican Republic could access it through loans and technical cooperation actions, which would not represent a subscription to a debt.