Today is International Women’s Day and the theme for this annual day in 2025 is “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” It’s a theme which calls for action to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and to ensure no one is left behind.

I have commented before on a number of occasions about the way in which the Scottish social care sector is dominated by the contribution and capacity of women across all ages and yet that contribution is both societally and economically devalued and unrecognised.

A day like today provides us with an opportunity both to reflect and celebrate the extraordinary contributions women have made to Scottish society as a whole but most especially in the realm of social care. It should also encourage us, I believe, to challenge the ongoing negative stereotyping and diminishing of the contribution of women and not least in social care in Scotland.

We still live in a societal and cultural context where it is assumed that the complex professional and critical role of care and support is ‘women’s work.’ Such lazy, misogynistic stereotyping enables society to devalue and diminish the essential role of care and support in our society and must be continually challenged.

I think at times we make the false assumption that things have changed and that today the majority of people in Scotland recognise that it is everybody’s responsibility regardless of gender to contribute to the care and support of all our citizens. But in truth research and surveys paint a very different picture.

A 2025 report by UN Women UK highlights that women still perform the majority of unpaid care and domestic work and constitute the majority of paid care workers in the UK. Data varies but taken together over 80% of both paid and unpaid care responsibilities are undertaken by women and girls. Indeed, in Scotland data on paid and professional care regularly a level of between 86 to 88% of staff being women.

This is not an accident of history but a reflection of deeply ingrained societal norms that have over time assigned caregiving roles to women. These norms have shaped expectations, limited opportunities, and perpetuated the idea that care is a “natural” role for women, rather than a skilled and essential profession.

These lazy stereotypes also seem to advance the opinion that care is of lesser importance and value and therefore it is ‘okay’ for women to dominate the sector. Few would articulate that sentiment openly, but it is clearly present.

We know that care is not secondary or lesser; it is the foundation upon which we build a society of compassion, dignity, and interdependence. In Scotland, social care is the backbone of our communities. It is the quiet force that enables individuals to live with dignity, families to thrive, and society to function.

And at the heart of this sector are indeed women. Women who, for generations, have stepped forward to provide care – not because it was expected of them, but because they recognised its profound value. They have been the carers in our families, the nurses in our hospitals, the support workers in our communities, and the leaders in our care organisations. Their contributions are immeasurable, yet too often, they are invisible or simply ignored.

We need to be very clear that care is not “women’s work.” Care is ‘human’ work. It is the work of compassion, empathy, and expertise. It is the work of building relationships, solving complex problems, and supporting individuals in their most vulnerable moments. To frame it as gendered is to diminish its value and to ignore the potential for all to contribute equally to this vital sector.

What we need, instead, is to challenge the assumption that care is an instinctive duty for women rather than a skilled profession, a career of choice, or a domain of leadership. We must move beyond the idea that women enter care because they are naturally more compassionate or inherently more nurturing. These are skills- honed, developed, and practised – and they deserve the same professional recognition as any other field.

So, how do we address this presumption without talking down care? How do we elevate the status of caregiving while ensuring it is seen as a role for all, not just women?

I think one of the ways we do that is to celebrate care for what it is: a profession of skill and significance. The narrative around care needs to shift from one of obligation to one of value. Care workers – the majority of whom are women – deserve recognition for the expertise they bring to their roles. Whether it is supporting someone with dementia to live well, enabling a person with disabilities to achieve independence, or providing end-of-life care with dignity, these are tasks that require training, empathy, and resilience. Let us talk about care as a career of choice, not a default.

I also think that we have to challenge the structural barriers that perpetuate the gender imbalance in social care. This means addressing the pay gap, improving working conditions, and creating pathways for career progression. It also means addressing some systemic biases within the care sector itself. For while women make up the majority of the care workforce, they are still underrepresented in decision-making roles. True equality means ensuring that women have pathways to leadership, that their voices shape policy, and that care work is seen as a space for ambition, progression, and influence.

Now on the evidence of some research which has been published this last week, we are making some progress in this regard in Scotland, but we have a considerable distance to go.

Over two decades ago I was involved in a project which was attempting to challenge the stereotype of care and gender across Europe. It recognised that things would only change if from early years or kindergarten onwards to secondary education, that we challenged the presumptions around care being female which lie at the heart of our education system. Despite continued efforts, I think we are critically short of where we need to be.

From an early age, children should be taught that caregiving is a universal responsibility, not a gendered one. Boys and girls alike should be encouraged to develop the skills of empathy, communication, and collaboration that are at the heart of care. By normalising care as a shared responsibility, we can create a future where the sector is truly inclusive.

Too often, the experiences and insights of women who care are overlooked in policy discussions and decision-making processes. Too often when we are developing economic strategies for our society, we ignore the contribution of social care as a whole and I suspect that is a subconscious gendered ignorance. Too often when we consider the importance of valuing women as entrepreneurs and as business leaders, we conveniently exclude social care from such debates and discussions failing to recognise that this is a sector which is dominated by entrepreneurial, gifted and skilled women par excellence.

This International Women’s Day, we need to honour and celebrate the women who have built, sustained, and enriched our care sector – not just as workers, but as leaders, advocates, and visionaries. But let us also commit to building a future where care is valued as it should be – as a shared responsibility, a skilled profession, and a cornerstone of a compassionate society.

Care is not women’s work. Care is everyone’s work. And it is time we all stepped up to recognise that.

 

Donald Macaskill