11/06/2026
As our populations age, as young people emigrate, and as families become smaller, the old assumption that care will simply be provided inside the family is no longer sustainable.
And we have to be honest: in practice, this unpaid care is mostly carried by women.
This affects women’s employment, income, pensions and risk of poverty later in life. But it also affects public finances. When women leave the labour market because of care responsibilities, the state loses tax revenues and social-insurance contributions. When older people do not receive adequate home-based or community care, the costs often appear later through hospitals, institutions and crisis interventions.
Marija Risteska is today at Universidad de Murcia participating in the first symposium "Infrastructures for everyday life" and presented a paper on Rethinking long term care in Albania and Macedonia with a simple main message: care is not only a social issue — it is economic and infrastructure issue.
Just as we invest in roads, energy or water systems, we also need to invest in care systems. Long-term care services can improve the dignity and quality of life of older people, support women’s participation in the labour market, create jobs, and make public finances more sustainable.
Using gender-responsive budgeting helps us see these hidden costs and design better policies.
The real question is not whether ageing will cost our societies. It already does. The question is whether these costs will continue to be invisible and carried mostly by women and families — or whether we will build fair, professional and community-based care systems.
