Summary: Feminism has struggled to gain broad, durable support. This is not so much because people oppose women’s freedom, although some still do, but primarily because our society has failed to replace the caregiving labor women historically provided. Philanthropy, in prioritizing empowerment narratives over care infrastructure, has unintentionally deepened this anxiety—undermining feminism’s legitimacy among those most dependent on care. The following discussion offers five philanthropy-forward ideas to enhance the synergy between feminism and caregiving in a world that still wants and needs caregivers.
Here on Philanthropy Women, we have discussed the importance of caregiving in many posts, mostly in the context of philanthropic funding for health care and childcare, but today I want to talk about caregiving more explicitly as a labor issue that may be getting in the way of feminism becoming more mainstream.
If Not Women, Then Who?
As a woman, have you ever asked yourself, “If I don’t fill this care gap, who will?” As you may have noticed, you’re not alone. Women are often called upon to be the unpaid caregivers for people in their families, often at the expense of their own careers, financial security, and health.
This trend is only getting worse. The 2025 AARP Survey on caregiving reports an alarming increase in unpaid family caregivers. The number of family caregivers has jumped to 63 million Americans, representing a 45 percent increase, or nearly 20 million more caregivers, over the past decade.
Recent journalism in The Washington Post calls attention to another layer of this unpaid caregiving conundrum — grandchildren who care for elderly family members. This is just one piece in a multifaceted informal labor system that props up the health and well-being of so many in our country.
Not all of these caregivers are women, but most are. And beyond unpaid care, the paid caregiving labor force is heavily populated with women. Roughly 80% of home health aides are women, and 92-95% of childcare workers are women. These industries are bleeding workers as it is, due to wage stagnation and other factors. Is feminism also making people feel uneasy about how much worse this situation might become if women had more opportunities to move into higher paying and status jobs?
The bottom line: research on caregiving consistently show that women remain the primary providers of unpaid care, even as women’s labor-force participation has increased and family structures have changed. While men’s participation has grown modestly, it has not approached parity in hours, intensity, or responsibility — leaving no clear successor to this labor women have historically provided.
So what’s a woman to do, if she’s seeking a better life for herself and (ironically) the people she cares about?
Not Be A Feminist? Wrong Answer!
Critics of feminism often warn that as women gain power and opportunity, they will abandon caregiving roles — leaving societies without adequate care for children, elders, and the disabled. This concern is not unfounded: care jobs are among the lowest paid, most physically demanding, and least respected forms of labor, and workers frequently exit them when alternatives improve.
But this does not indict feminism. It indicts a care economy that relies on women’s constrained choices to function. It’s a system that collapses when workers gain autonomy. It was never sustainable to begin with, and was only viable because women’s unpaid and low-paid labor filled the gap.
Philanthropy’s Blind Spot: Empowerment without Infrastructure
As we all know who have been paying attention in the women’s funding ecosystem for the past decade, roughly 2% of all philanthropic funding goes to women-centered work. And according to the 2025 Women’s Funding Network survey, most of this funding goes toward leadership pipelines, policy advocacy, and participatory grantmaking rather than infrastructure spending.
Care labor is an infrastructure issue, and a few emerging and longstanding funders try to dig deeper to address this. Funders like Pivotal Ventures are getting it right when they support the National Alliance for Caregiving, Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, New America, and Promise Venture Studio. And longstanding funders like the Ms. Foundation and the National Domestic Workers Alliance have consistently put dollars toward addressing the care economy.
But the rest of philanthropy hasn’t taken much of a long-term interest in addressing the care labor issues.
A Better Philanthropy Plan: Feminism Embedded in a Care Economy
As a society, we can do better, and philanthropy can be a beacon of light shining on the way to get there. Below are five feminist-undergirded points to guide the shift to an economy that values care.
1. Fund Care as Core Infrastructure
Key premise: care is not charity and no one should be expected to give their life away to support unpaid care gaps. Care is social infrastructure that benefits everyone and includes:
- Universal childcare
- Eldercare systems that span the full range of elder care needs
- Subsidized home-based care networks
- Caregiver respite systems
2. Make Men Central to Care Strategy
Feminism cannot succeed without men taking their share of responsibility of care. Donors can support this shift by:
- Funding male caregiver fellowships
- Supporting campaigns that rebrand care as strength
- Subsidizing paid parental leave designed for men
- Encouraging male-led caregiving organizations through grants
3. Elevate Care Work Economically and Culturally
Philanthropy has the capacity to reduce the public risk investment in care work. It can help set new standards for higher wages in care jobs and put money toward organizing and advocacy for a strong care economy.
4. Support Women Without Re-trapping Them
This ties into supporting older women caregivers, a large percentage of the overall caregiver demographic. Older women may need childcare grants in order to participate in leadership training. They may need sabbaticals from caregiver obligations to get on track with other life goals. Philanthropy can be the prototype for this shift in values and resource allocation.
5. Measure What Actually Matters
Shift metrics from “number of women empowered” to:
- Care hours redistributed
- Men’s caregiving uptake
- Reductions in unpaid care burden
- Increases in paid caregiving wages
- Stability and quality of life improvements for those needing care
Bibliography
I. Gender Composition of Caregiving Labor (Paid & Unpaid)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
In 2023, the majority of home health aides and personal care aides were women.
BLS TED: The Economics Daily, 2024.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/in-2023-the-majority-of-home-health-aides-and-personal-care-aides-were-women.htm
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https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2023/whos-not-working-behind-the-full-time-caregivers-leaving-the-workforce
II. Informal Caregiving Under Economic Pressure
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https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/caregiving-in-the-us-2025/
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https://nwlc.org/resource/child-care-workers-are-underpaid-and-overworked/
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Why So Few Men Work in Child Care — and Why That Matters.
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https://www.vox.com/child-care/440187/men-child-care-daycare-workers-solutions
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V. Philanthropy & Gender Funding Patterns
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Charitable Giving to Women’s and Girls’ Organizations Peaked, Then Plateaued.
2023.
https://candid.org/blogs/charitable-giving-to-womens-and-girls-organizations-peaked-plateaued-wfi-data/
TIME Magazine.
Why Feminist Philanthropy Still Represents a Tiny Share of Giving.
2024.
https://time.com/7006985/feminist-philanthropy-melinda-gates-buffett-ford/
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VI. Care Economy & Philanthropic Strategy
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Caring for Tomorrow: Investing in the Care Economy.
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https://www.womensworldbanking.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CaringforTomorrow-1.pdf
Caring Across Generations.
Organizational overview and policy framework.
https://caringacross.org
Economic Opportunity Fund Network.
The Care Economy.
https://eofnetwork.org/care-economy/
