Remedying depletion through social reproduction: a critical engagement with the United Nations’ business and human rights framework

Abstract

The growing recognition of unpaid work in international law and the Sustainable Development Goals acknowledges that gendered labour supports the global economy. This work can have harmful impacts, leading to ‘depletion through social reproduction’ (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="CIT0036">Rai et al, 2014</xref>). When corporate harms impact on workers and communities, family members are often required to provide caring labour for those directly affected. However, the consequential harms of depletion are generally invisible within the law and uncompensated. In assessing the United Nations’ business and human rights framework, we argue that the international legal regime must take account of social reproductive work and its consequent harms.

Gender, business and human rights: Academic activism as critical engagement in neoliberal times

“…Indeed, co‐optation can be stealthy, and many testify to the fact that the neoliberalization of feminism remains an ongoing challenge (e.g., Rottenberg, 2014). However, others argue that “an engagement with the business and human rights framework need not … lead to the co‐option of feminists” (Goldblatt & Rai, 2020, p. 198).…”

“…Lack of effective integration of feminist perspectives in the UNGPs contributes to minimal attention to the rights of women and girls in their implementation, including in National Action Plans (Kristianssona & Götzmann, 2020), and Goldblatt and Rai (2020) point to the implications of the failure to address social reproduction therein. Despite these limitations, however, several of the recommendations on gender submitted to the UN consultation were integrated in to the final text of the UN principles (UNHRC, 2011).…”

Agricultural Commercialization, Gender Equality and the Right to Food

“…Social security systems are also premised upon gendered constructs with a presumptive male breadwinner and, as in the case of the Cambodian constitution, women being positioned as ' housewives' ( ICRW, 2006;Sepúlveda Carmona & Donald, 2014). The burden of caring work usually falls disproportionately on women, whose invisible reproductive labour, alongside structural discrimination in education and employment, excludes them from high-earning economic opportunities and formal employment relations ( Goldblatt & Rai, 2020;ICRW, 2006;Sepúlveda Carmona & Donald, 2014).…”