"From Unpaid to Paid Care Work--The Macroeconomic Implications of HIV and AIDS on Women's Time-tax Burdens"

Abstract

This paper considers public employment guarantee programs in the context of South Africa as a means to address the nexus of poverty, unemployment, and unpaid work burdens--all factors exacerbated by HIV/AIDS. It further discusses the need for genderinformed public job creation in areas that mitigate the "time-tax" burdens of women, and examines a South African initiative to address social sector service delivery deficits within the government's Expanded Public Works Programme. The authors highlight the need for well-designed employment guarantee programs--specifically, programs centered on community and home-based care--as a potential way to help offset the destabilizing effects of HIV/AIDS and endemic poverty. The paper concludes with results from macroeconomic simulations of such a program, using a social accounting matrix framework, and sets out implications for both participants and policymakers.