A/68/293 D. Reducing and redistributing unpaid care work 92. States must act to ensure more equal distribution of care work. This requires redistribution in three forms: redistribution between women and men; redistribution from households to the State; and redistribution of time and resources towards poorer families and households. 93. For the latter two forms of redistribution, the crucial interventions are provision of public services and provision of infrastructure, through which States can reduce the overhead time of poor households and the drudgery of unpaid care work (see paras. 95-105 below). 94. In order to achieve greater equality in sharing unpaid care work between women and men, in general and within households, the solutions must be public as well as private. It is necessary for the State to facilitate, incentivize and support men’s caring, for example by ensuring that they have equal rights to employment leave as parents and carers, and providing education and training to men, women and employers. To facilitate long-term change, educational programmes, to be used in schools and communities, should be developed to challenge stereotypical, traditional male and female roles and promote the concept of shared family responsibility for unpaid care work in the home. 1. Public services 95. For the poorest women, accessible, gender-sensitive public services are the most direct and effective way to redistribute their heavy unpaid care workload and reduce its drudgery and intensity. This can have a direct impact on their enjoyment of human rights, and the rights of those they care for. In many contexts, the provision of such services is a matter of great urgency. 96. Quality public service provision should be free at the point of use (for example health services and primary education) or at affordable cost (for example water and sanitation and transport), in order to give unpaid caregivers the option to undertake other pursuits such as paid work, participation in public life, education or self-care, while ensuring a level of care for their dependants. States should therefore preserve and boost investment in public services, especially in times of economic crisis when inequalities become more pronounced. The principles of non-discrimination and equality require States to ensure that public services meet the standards of availability, accessibility, acceptability, adaptability and quality, 88 and to expand coverage in ways that reduce class, gender and regional inequalities, focusing on physical and economic accessibility for the most disadvantaged persons, groups and regions. 97. Policymakers should implement general measures, such as eliminating user fees in primary education and basic health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, and progressively implementing free universal health care. More specific measures adapting and reforming public services, directly guided by the need to alleviate unpaid work demands on women and girls, will also be necessary. Such measures might include free school food programmes; extended school day programmes; improvements to palliative care systems; and __________________ 88 22/24 For a fuller explanation of these standards, see, for example, Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 14. 13-42271