A/68/293 for reorganizing tasks and care responsibilities in their absence. 75 Overall, this intensifies the care deficit in poorer countries. 67. Women’s migration generally does not prompt changes in the sexual division of labour; the extra unpaid care responsibilities usually fall to older women and girls within the household or community. These global care chains reflect and, in some ways, exacerbate enormous inequalities in terms of class, gender and ethnicity. The people who make up the chains, from the first to the last link, are almost exclusively female, often belong to an ethnic minority in their destination country, and generally cannot rely on State support for their care responsibilities. 76 68. Recently, austerity measures in both developed and developing countries 77 have engendered massive expenditure cuts, including to public services and social protection budgets. As infrastructure and public services are eroded and formal employers contribute less to the costs of care, care responsibilities are shifted back to families, while purchasing basic commodities and care substitutes becomes difficult because of the fall in earnings and the high unemployment rate. 78 Simultaneously, in some developed countries policies intending to remove women from welfare benefits and force them into employment are being implemented, in a context of high unemployment and labour flexibility, and where childcare services are inadequate. As a consequence of these measures women’s time is further stretched and their unpaid care work increases, especially in households living in poverty; 79 indeed, it is implicitly expected to act as an unlimited and cost-free alternative to public services and as a shock-absorber for the crisis. V. Policy implications and recommendations to States 69. When States do not adequately provide, fund, value and regulate care, women inevitably take on a greater share of its provision, to the detriment of their enjoyment of human rights. States must therefore adopt all necessary policy measures in order to achieve the recognition, reduction and redistribution 80 of unpaid care work. The international human rights framework, which rests strongly on the principles of non-discrimination and equality, and the obligations and accountability of States, must be an important source of guidance in this regard. 70. Public policies should position care as a social and collective responsibility rather than an individual problem, and treat unpaid caregivers and those they __________________ 75 76 77 78 79 80 13-42271 Fiona Williams, “Making connections across the transnational political economy of care”, in Anderson and Shutes (eds.), Care and Migrant Labour: Theory, Policy and Politics (forthcoming 2014). ILO and UNDP, Work and Family. Although the imposition of austerity measures has been most documented in Europe, recent findings suggest that fiscal contraction is most severe in the developing world. Isabel Ortiz and Matthew Cummins, The Age of Austerity: A Review of Public Expenditures and Adjustment Measures in 181 Countries (Initiative for Policy Dialogue and the South Centre, New York and Geneva, 2013). European Women’s Lobby, The Price of Austerity: The Impact on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Europe (October 2012). Fontana, “Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment”. The “recognize, reduce and redistribute” framework was first conceptualized by Diane Elson. See UNDP, Unpaid Care Work. 17/24