Brief background
The informal economy comprises economic activities that produce goods and services for the market but are not officially recognised by government authorities or covered by formal regulatory frameworks. Informal employment, in turn, refers to paid or profit-oriented work that is not governed by formal employment arrangements, regardless of whether it occurs in the informal or formal sector (ILO, 2023). Workers in informal employment are more likely to engage in non-standard forms of work and to experience significant decent work deficits. Employment relationships are often absent, blurred, or deliberately concealed, while earnings tend to be low, working hours are unregulated, and access to labour rights and social protection is limited (ILO and WIEGO, 2019).
The expansion of informal employment has been associated with the increasing flexibilisation of production and the casualisation of labour, making informal wage employment synonymous with temporary, contract and casual work (WIEGO, 2009). Yet, despite these vulnerabilities, informal workers make indispensable economic and social contributions through activities ranging from food production and trading to care provision and waste management (WIEGO, 2026). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, informal employment encompassed nearly two billion workers, accounting for approximately six in every ten workers globally, and was particularly prevalent in developing regions, especially Africa, Asia, and the Pacific (ILO, 2023). Informality is concentrated in sectors such as agriculture and domestic work, where approximately 90% and 80% of workers, respectively, are employed informally (ILO, 2023). There is also clear gender segregation within informal employment. Globally, women are disproportionately represented in informal employment, particularly in sectors such as public administration, education and health, accommodation and food services, wholesale and retail trade, domestic work, manufacturing and agriculture, reflecting the persistent interaction between labour market inequalities and women’s unpaid care responsibilities (ILO, 2023).
Africa has the highest levels of informal employment globally, accounting for approximately 69% of employment in Northern Africa and 87% in Sub-Saharan Africa (ILO, 2023). Although South Africa has a comparatively smaller informal economy than many countries on the continent, it nevertheless plays a critical role in employment creation and livelihood generation. In 2025, the informal sector accounted for 21% of total employment (Stats SA, 2025). Informal employment is particularly significant among young people, accounting for 50% of employment among those aged 15–24 years. High unemployment and the absence of alternative income opportunities remain the primary drivers of informal businesses, with women disproportionately affected. In 2023, nearly 59 % of women operating informal businesses cited unemployment as their primary reason for entering the informal sector (ibid.)
Informal employment also encompasses a substantial share of South Africa’s care workforce. Temporary and casual employment constitute the largest forms of informal wage employment, with domestic work accounting for almost one-third of informal wage employment, more than 90 % of whom are women (WIEGO, 2009). Informal employment also includes more than 500,000 street vendors, approximately two-thirds of whom sell food, as well as an estimated 70,000 Community Health Workers (CHWs) employed through more than 3,000 non-governmental organisations, providing primary healthcare, health promotion, disease prevention and home-based care, particularly in underserved communities (CHW Central, 2026; WIEGO, 2009). These occupations illustrate the central role of informal workers in sustaining households, communities and essential care services despite operating under conditions characterised by limited labour protections, insecure employment and inadequate social protection.
Problem statement
1. The interaction between women’s informal employment and care responsibilities
Women are disproportionately represented in informal employment, accounting for up to 90% of employed women in Sub-Saharan Africa (ILO, 2024). This is partly because informal employment provides the flexibility, autonomy and geographic proximity to home that enable many women to combine paid work with unpaid care responsibilities (ILO, 2024; ILO and WIEGO, 2019). However, this flexibility often comes at the cost of fewer working hours and lower earnings, as inadequate childcare services and public infrastructure continue to constrain women’s ability to engage in paid work (ibid.).
The flexibility associated with informal employment also fails to resolve the tension between productive and reproductive work. Instead, it illustrates their “indivisibility”. Women street vendors and waste pickers are often unable to work during periods of rain or extreme heat because they cannot safely bring their children to their workplaces (ILO and WIEGO, 2019). Likewise, home-based workers frequently experience role conflict, as childcare demands require their constant attention and interrupt their work activities. The long hours spent combining paid work with unpaid care also contribute to exhaustion and stress, as many women fear they cannot give their children the attention they deserve (Alfers, 2016).
These challenges are further compounded by limited access to maternity protection, social protection and affordable childcare. Globally, nearly one billion women employed in the informal economy have little or no access to maternity protection (ILO and WIEGO, 2019), while 90 % of domestic workers remain excluded from social protection because they belong to a “difficult-to-cover” group under existing social security systems (ILO, 2016). Together, low and irregular earnings, inadequate public childcare services and the unaffordability of private care services place an additional burden on women in the informal economy, increasing both the costs of raising children and the income lost while providing care (ibid.)
These interconnected challenges demonstrate that women’s concentration in informal employment is shaped not only by labour market conditions, but also by unequal access to care services, maternity protection and social protection. This poses a continued barrier to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment unless labour and social protections are extended to workers in the informal economy.
2. The challenge of recognising and formalising informal care work
Urbanisation, migration, and the shift towards nuclear family structures have increased demand for paid care services, as working households have become less able to rely on extended family networks for childcare (ILO, 2018). In low- and middle-income countries, inadequate public investment and weak regulation have resulted in many childcare workers being employed informally (ILO and WIGO, 2019). Domestic workers, 70 % of whom are women, also provide childcare as part of their responsibilities, with the majority employed in the informal economy (ILO, 2018).
At the same time, governments are increasingly seeking to professionalise and standardise care services. While these reforms are essential for improving quality, they also risk excluding experienced community-based care providers if formal qualifications become the primary basis for employment (Lehmann and Matwa, 2008). During the restructuring of South Africa’s CHWs programme, newly introduced educational and qualification requirements failed to adequately recognise competencies acquired through years of practical experience. Similarly, the regulatory framework introduced under the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, along with its accompanying norms and standards, strengthened quality assurance in the ECD sector by introducing more comprehensive requirements for registration, infrastructure, governance, and programmes (Ally, 2023; Sello et al., 2024). However, these increasingly complex regulatory requirements have also created barriers for many community-based providers, leaving an estimated 43 % of ECD centres unable to register formally and therefore ineligible for public subsidies and other forms of state support (ibid.).
Formalisation processes that do not adequately involve vulnerable informal actors may ultimately price them out of, or remove them from, the systems on which they and their users depend. Informal actors often perceive formalisation as imposing additional costs with limited benefits, particularly where it is primarily associated with taxation (Vorley, 2023). Without inclusive approaches to formalisation, efforts to improve care quality may inadvertently weaken care systems by reducing service availability, displacing experienced care providers, and exacerbating inequalities in access to quality care.
Purpose of the activity/output
The study seeks to examine the interaction between women’s informal employment and unpaid care responsibilities, and how unequal access to childcare, maternity protection and social protection shapes their livelihoods. It further aims to explore policy approaches to extending care services and labour and social protections to workers in the informal economy, while recognising, strengthening, and progressively integrating informal care providers into South Africa’s care economy in ways that improve the quality of care without undermining existing livelihoods, experiences, and expertise.
Specific objectives of the study
- To examine how unpaid care responsibilities influence women’s participation in informal employment and shape their working conditions, livelihoods, and access to childcare, maternity protection and social protection.
- To assess the care needs of workers in the informal economy and explore policy options to extend accessible, affordable, and quality care services, labour protection, and social protection to support their livelihoods and economic participation.
- To analyse the role of informal care workers in South Africa’s care economy and identify inclusive pathways for their recognition, professionalisation and progressive integration that strengthen the quality of care while protecting existing livelihoods, knowledge and experience.
Target Audience
- Departments championing care programs and policies, such as the National Care Policy: the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD), Department of Social Development (DSD), Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL)
- Policymakers from relevant Ministries and departments in South Africa, such as the Department of Health (DoH), Department of Basic Education (DoE), Department of Small Business Development (DSBD), and Department of Employment and Labour (DoEL)
Outputs/Activities
| Sn. | Activities and outputs | Deliverables |
| 1 | Conduct an inception phase report, including refinement of the research methodology, analytical framework, work plan and detailed literature review strategy | Inception report |
| 2 | Undertake a desk-based evidence review and secondary data analysis, covering literature, policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks, and available statistical data on women’s informal employment in relation to their access to care and social protection, and informal care provision in South Africa. This will include comparative case studies of selected care-related informal occupations including domestic work, informal childcare provision, community health work and street food vending, as well as relevant regional and international good practices. | Evidence review and preliminary findings report |
| 3 | Analyse and synthesise the findings to identify key trends, policy and protection gaps, cross-sectoral similarities and differences, and the implications of formalisation, professionalisation and standardisation for informal workers and care providers. Develop policy pathways to extend care services, labour, and social protection to informal workers, while recognising and progressively integrating informal care providers into South Africa’s care economy. | Draft research report and presentation |
| 4 | Finalise the study report, including policy recommendations to inform South Africa’s Draft National Care Strategy and related policy processes. | Final report, Executive Summary and all supporting annexes |
Method
The study will adopt a desk-based exploratory research design, drawing on existing literature, policy documents, statistical data and comparative case studies. Given the exploratory nature of the study and the limited evidence on the interaction between informal employment and care in South Africa, the research will synthesise evidence from multiple sources to identify key trends, policy gaps and opportunities for reform. It will begin with a structured review of literature on informality, women’s informal employment, unpaid care work, maternity protection, childcare, social protection and informal care provision. It will also review South Africa’s legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks governing labour protection, social protection, early childhood development, community health work and the care economy to assess the extent to which they recognise and respond to the needs of workers in the informal economy.
This will be complemented by secondary analysis of existing statistical data from institutions such as the ILO, WIEGO and Statistics South Africa to describe the scale, gendered composition and characteristics of informal employment, with particular attention to domestic work, informal childcare provision, community health work and street food vending. Where data permit, the analysis will examine patterns by gender, age, sector and employment status to better understand how unpaid care responsibilities shape women’s labour market participation and access to care and social protection. To illustrate the diversity of informal care arrangements, the study will undertake a comparative review of selected care-related informal occupations, including domestic work, informal childcare provision, community health work and street food vending. The review will examine their contribution to South Africa’s care economy, the challenges they face in accessing labour and social protections, and the implications of formalisation, professionalisation and standardisation for their livelihoods, recognition and continued participation in care provision.
Finally, the evidence will be synthesised to develop policy pathways to extend care services, labour protection, and social protection to workers in the informal economy, while recognising, strengthening, and progressively integrating informal care providers into South Africa’s care economy. Particular attention will be given to regional and international good practices that could inform contextually appropriate policy recommendations for South Africa.
Connection with the project
The study contributes to the project by generating evidence and policy recommendations to inform South Africa’s Draft National Care Strategy, particularly regarding the extension of care services to informal workers while recognising and strengthening informal care provision.
Integration of gender issues
The study integrates gender by examining the interaction between unpaid care work and women’s informal employment, while identifying policy pathways to reduce gender inequalities through improved access to care services, labour protection and the recognition of informal care providers.
Budget
R68,000
Production Schedule
3 months
| Timeline | Deliverable |
| 1–16 October 2026 | Inception report |
| 26 October –16 November 2026 | Evidence review and preliminary findings report |
| 23 November–7 December 2026 | Draft research report and presentation |
| 18 December 2026 | Final report, Executive Summary and supporting annexes |
Request for Proposal
The following should be submitted to Morongwa Kekana at morongwa.kekana@iej.org.za at the Institute for Economic Justice by 01 September.
- CV illustrating relevant expertise
- A research abstract (maximum 1 page) outlining the proposed approach to the study, including a brief description of the methodology, the proposed data collection and analysis methods, and illustrative examples of key literature and documents to be reviewed, as well as the key stakeholders to be consulted.
- Sample of writing