CareDivide – Bridging the gender gap in informal long-term care

Project duration: January 2025 – January 2027

Project number: 101191097

Funding program: Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) – call CERV-2024-GE, funded by the European Commission

Description

The project addresses one of the most pressing, but often ignored, challenges related to gender inequality in the labour market: the disproportionate burden of informal care, especially for elderly or disabled family members, carried mainly by women. According to EIGE (2021[1]), more than 7.7 million women in the EU are not employed due to caring responsibilities. CareDivide aims to address these challenges through an integrated approach that combines research, training, advocacy and transnational cooperation with partners from five EU Member States.

CareDivide supports the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and caregivers, contributes to the objectives of the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, aligns with the European Care Services Strategy and the Council Recommendation of December 8, 2022 on access to affordable high-quality long-term care. By adapting these European frameworks to the realities in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain and Romania, the project aims for sustainable impact and replicable models at EU level.

Objectives

Increase understanding of the gender gap in informal long-term care.
Raise awareness and build the capacity of employers and human resource professionals to implement flexible and inclusive working conditions and practices that support equal access to the labour market for informal carers.
Promote the adoption and effective implementation of national and European legislative and policy frameworks in support of gender equality in informal long-term care.
Raise public awareness of the existence of the gender gap in care, the obstacles and difficulties faced by carers and the impact of these responsibilities on gender equality.

Main activities

To achieve its objectives, CareDivide will implement several activities:

Mapping the current situation in the field of informal long-term care and collecting good practices and tools to promote work-life balance.
Training and awareness-raising programmes for 500 employers and HR professionals.
Advocacy campaigns, development of public policy recommendations and organization of round tables with the participation of at least 75 decision-makers.
Information sessions for 100 media professionals focusing on avoiding gender stereotypes and promoting diverse media representation.
Dissemination and awareness-raising campaigns and events.

Project Consortium

The CareDivide project consortium brings together 10 partner organizations from Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Italy, together with 10 associate partners, including public authorities and media organizations. The project is coordinated by the Research Institute for Quality of Life (ICCV) in Romania.

Partners

ICCV – Research Institute for Quality of Life (Romania) – coordinator
CCIR – Chamber of Commerce of Romania (Romania)
CSI – Center for Social Innovation (Cyprus)
CCCI – Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Cyprus)
Symplexis (Greece)
D&I – Institute for Diversity and Inclusion (Greece)
FSMLR – Foundation Santa Maria La Real (Spain)
Cámara Badajoz – Badajoz Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (Spain)
CESIE – CESIE Ente del Terzo Settore (Italy)
Confesercenti PA – Confesercenti Provinciale di Palermo (Italy)

Associated partners

ANES – National Agency for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men (Romania)
Commissioner for the Citizen (Cyprus)
KETHI – Research Centre for Gender Equality (Greece)
IMEX – Institute of Women of Extremadura (Spain)
City of Palermo, Organisational Unit on Wellbeing and Welfare (Italy)

National TV (Romania)
Opinion & Action (Cyprus)
Proto Thema (Greece)
El Periódico Extremadura (Spain)
Lavialibera (Italy)

Project materials (to be updated):

Petrescu, C. (Coord.), Arpinte, D., Mihalache, F., Neguț, A., & Drăgan, C. (2025). Mapping the gap report: Romania summary report. Research Institute for Quality of Life. Developed within the project CareDivide, co-funded by the European Union (CERV-2024-GE).

Follow the project progress:

[1] EIGE (2021). Gender inequalities in care and consequences for the labour market. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/publications/gender-inequalities-care-and-consequences-labour-market?language_content_entity=en

🌐 Website: www.caredivide.eu
📣 Facebook: www.facebook.com

CareDivide_Mapping the gap report_Romania

CareDivide – Bridging the gender gap in informal long-term care