In the framework of the XXVI International Meeting on Gender Statistics, the 22nd International Meeting of Experts on Time-Use Information and Unpaid Work brought together representatives from across the region in Mexico City to strengthen the measurement and valuation of care work.

4 November 2025, Mexico City. Organized by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico (INEGI), the Secretariat for Women of Mexico, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the 22nd International Meeting of Experts on Time-Use Information and Unpaid Work (RUT) convened authorities, specialists and representatives of the National Statistical Offices and the National Machineries for the Advancement of Women in the region. The meeting promoted technical exchange and cooperation aimed at strengthening statistics on unpaid domestic and care work, which are essential for advancing gender equality.

During the opening session, Graciela Márquez, President of INEGI, highlighted the progress made in time-use measurement to make unpaid domestic and care work visible in Mexico, which is fundamental to breaking the statistical silence. Citlalli Hernández Mora, Secretary for Women of Mexico, stressed the importance of these measurements for evidence-based decision-making that can transform the lives of all women. María Inés Salamanca, Acting Representative of UN Women Colombia, emphasized that time-use statistics make visible the unpaid work that sustains life and economies and generate evidence for moving toward comprehensive care systems that promote gender equality.

Ana Güezmes García, Director of the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC, underscored that the virtuous synergy between subsidiary bodies, such as the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Statistical Conference of the Americas (SCA), has enabled the establishment of a solid institutional structure that fosters collaboration between producers and users of statistics. She explained that, through the working groups established under the SCA, with the support of ECLAC and UN Women and the leadership of INEGI, key statistical standards have been adopted to generate accurate and comparable statistics that reflect gender inequalities. These include the Methodological Guide on Time-Use Measurement in Latin America and the Caribbean and the Classification of Time-Use Activities for Latin America and the Caribbean (CAUTAL), adopted by the SCA.

The Director of the Division for Gender Affairs recalled that the region has assumed a collective commitment: the care society proposal that Latin America and the Caribbean contributes to the world is a new paradigm for sustainable development, equality and peace, one that places the sustainability of life and the care of people and the planet at the center. She stressed that this approach recognizes care as a need throughout the life cycle, as a human right, a global public good and essential work that sustains the economy as a whole.

She also noted that, in the Tlatelolco Commitment, States reaffirmed the urgency of establishing development measurement systems that go beyond gross domestic product, incorporating the valuation of unpaid work into national accounts and accounting for the multiplier effects of the care economy on women’s labour force participation, well-being, redistribution and economic growth. She added that these commitments include advancing exercises to estimate the costs, investment and returns of care policies and systems.

For the past three decades, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have made sustained progress in measuring the time allocated to unpaid domestic and care work. Twenty-four countries have conducted at least one time-use measurement, and five have published satellite accounts of unpaid household work. These measurements have made it possible to recognize its economic and social value, make visible the unequal distribution of this work between women and men and guide the design of evidence-based public policies.

In this context, Ana Güezmes emphasized that, in the countries that have carried out this exercise, unpaid work represents between 18.8 percent and 26.8 percent of GDP, making it the most significant economic sector, with more than two-thirds of this contribution coming from women. She also noted that the Gender Equality Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean, coordinated by ECLAC, has incorporated key indicators, including Total Working Time, and has played a central role in strengthening institutional capacities to produce and use gender-responsive statistics.

The meeting was structured around three thematic sessions addressing methodological challenges, advances in economic valuation and the articulation between statistics and public policies.

Session 1, moderated by Karen García Rojas, Statistician of the Division for Gender Affairs of ECLAC, focused on methodological challenges in time-use measurement. Presentations by Daléa Soares Antunes (IBGE, Brazil), Andrea Ramírez (DANE, Colombia), Tamika George (Central Statistical Office, Grenada) and Mayra Lorena Rodríguez (Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador) highlighted lessons learned and the advantages and limitations of the methodological decisions adopted in their respective time-use measurements. Key challenges discussed included capturing new technology-mediated forms of care, measuring simultaneous activities, collecting data in hard-to-reach areas and strengthening training for field staff.

Session 2, moderated by Patricia Carranza of the Secretariat for Women of Mexico, focused on the economic valuation of unpaid domestic and care work, thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Iliana Vaca Trigo (United Nations Statistics Division), Maribel Alemán Muñoz (INEC, Costa Rica) and Loreto Schnake Neale (Ministry of Finance, Chile) underscored the role of time-use surveys as a fundamental input for valuation exercises and for the creation of care economy satellite accounts. They also identified several challenges, including defining the scope of domestic and care activities, measuring simultaneous activities and strengthening political will and institutionalization to ensure the continuity and financing of these exercises.

Session 3, moderated by Andrea Llerena (UN Women), addressed the articulation between information needs and the use of statistical data for public policies and comprehensive care systems. Carla Arellano (INE Chile), James Yong (INEI Peru), Norma Navarro (INEGI Mexico) and Jenny Segovia (INE Uruguay) highlighted the importance of time-use information for driving and guiding the design of public policies and care systems, noting that harnessing this potential requires interinstitutional dialogue, accessible dissemination and capacity-building.

In closing, participants reaffirmed the region’s commitment to strengthening statistical institutions and care-related public policies in the framework of the Decade of Action for substantive equality and the care society, approved under the Tlatelolco Commitment.