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Globally, unpaid care work is a key determinant of whether women enter and remain in the labour market, and of the type and quality of their employment. Care work is usually categorized into direct care (personally caring for an adult or a child) and indirect care (auxiliary care activities such as cleaning and cooking), as well as paid and unpaid care work. Paid care workers comprise many occupations including nurses, doctors, community health workers, social workers, teachers, childminders, and domestic workers, to name a few. Themajority of care work however falls into the unpaid category and is predominantly completed by women.South Africa’s paid care economy contribute 13.8% towards total employment in the labour market and is largely undertaken by women – estimated at 84% in Graph 1 below. There is a complex combination of factors that result in the overrepresentation of women in careprofessions, however, social norms and gender stereotypes are contributing factors - where care is considered the natural domain of women, and there is the socialization of girl children into extensions of nurturing and mothering roles such as nursing and teaching. Women inSouth Africa are also more likely to enroll in care work-related subjects for tertiary education.