UN Women - Consultant Gender and Social Policy Expert (Home-based)

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

UN Women has entered into an Agreement with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) to implement a project on women’s economic empowerment in the Eastern Caribbean. The project, “Build Back Equal” (BBE), which is led by UN Women and jointly implemented with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is being implemented, and will contribute to women’s economic resilience in the Eastern Caribbean by taking a comprehensive approach to addressing the barriers women face to economic empowerment and providing increased sustainable opportunities for women’s economic growth. Government and the private sector in four Eastern Caribbean countries will benefit from strengthened capacity and access to financing to sustainably alleviate women’s unpaid care work burden through subsidized quality childcare. Globally, women work 2.8 hours more than men on unpaid care and domestic work.1 This implies that women, and particularly the poorest and most disadvantaged, have the double burden of both paid and unpaid work, or in other words they are often more time poor than men. Women bear the multiple burdens of productive and reproductive responsibilities that severely limits their economic opportunities and remains a barrier to their engagement in paid work. Data on unpaid care work and specifically to measure SDG Indicator 5.4.1 (Proportion of time spent on unpaid domestic and care work, by sex, age and location) is sparse in CARICOM. However, the UN Women MCO-Caribbean is leading efforts to close this data gap in the region.2 Unpaid care and domestic work is usually invisible in policies and budgets because they are not part of the conventional definition and measurement of the economy (Sharp, 2003). Gender Aware Beneficiary Assessments (GABAs) of public assistance and social protection programmes in Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines reveal systemic gaps in the design and delivery of social protection systems.

While public assistance programmes play a critical role in poverty alleviation and crisis response, they often operate without comprehensive legislative and policy frameworks, lack gender-specific targeting, and remain constrained by limited resources, outdated procedures, and weak coordination mechanisms. The Investment Climate Reform (ICR) Report on the Care Economy (2024) highlights that gender-responsive care policies—particularly childcare and parental leave—are integral to enabling business environments, improved labour market outcomes, and the redistribution of unpaid care work. The report emphasizes the importance of multisectoral coordination, social dialogue, data-informed policy design, and alignment with international standards, including ILO conventions and SDG Target 5.4. Across countries, the GABA findings highlight that women are the primary beneficiaries of public assistance programmes, yet programme design frequently fails to recognize the gendered nature of poverty and care responsibilities. Women’s disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work—particularly childcare, eldercare, and care for persons with disabilities—limits their labour force participation, access to decent work, and pathways to economic self-sufficiency. The absence of affordable and accessible childcare services, inadequate parental and family-friendly policies, and gender-neutral benefit structures further entrench inequalities and reinforce traditional gender norms. In parallel, UN Women has supported Gender-Responsive Reviews of Legislation and Policy in the social protection and care systems of Grenada and Saint Lucia. These reviews underscore that while some progress has been made in labour and social legislation, significant legislative gaps remain in areas such as maternity and parental leave, nursing breaks, flexible work arrangements, recognition of unpaid care work, and protection for domestic workers and informal sector workers. Misalignment between social protection policies, gender equality strategies, and labour laws further constrains effective implementation and accountability. Taken together, this body of evidence demonstrates an urgent need for coherent, gender-responsive social and care policies that recognize, reduce, redistribute, reward, and represent care work, and that are grounded in enforceable legal frameworks and implementable institutional arrangements. Strengthening the care economy—through policies that support childcare, family-friendly workplaces, decent work for care workers, and multisectoral coordination—is essential not only for advancing gender equality, but also for promoting inclusive economic growth, resilience, and social cohesion. Within this context, UN Women is providing technical support to the Government of Saint Lucia with the development of a National Care Policy and related gender-responsive social policy reforms, in line with government commitments outlined in existing memoranda of understanding and national development strategies.

[1] Forecasting time spent in unpaid care and domestic work | UN Women Data Hub

[2]The measurement of SDG 5.4.1 was initially piloted in Grenada commencing in 2020. Details on this pilot can be review in the report “Piloting the Measurement of SDG Indicator 5.4.1 in Grenada Using the Labour Force Survey”.  With support from the BBE project, further pilots in participating countries are being undertaken.

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

Under the overall supervision of the UN Women MCO - Caribbean Representative and directly reporting to the Deputy Representative, the Gender and Social Policy Expert will provide technical support for the design and development of a gender-responsive National Care Policy for Saint Lucia, ensuring coherence with broader social, labour, and family-friendly policies, and alignment with international gender equality, labour and women’s rights commitments, global and regional best practices.

The consultant will contribute to policy content, stakeholder consultations, and validation processes, with particular attention to the 5Rs framework (Recognise, Reduce, Redistribute, Reward, Represent care work) and to the links between care policy, women’s economic empowerment, labour rights and inclusive economic development.

Deliverables the Gender and Social Policy Expert will be responsible for the following:

1. Policy Analysis and Evidence Review
   • Review existing national policies, strategies, and legal frameworks relevant to care, gender equality, labour, social protection, and family-friendly policies.
   • Analyse key gaps and opportunities in relation to unpaid and paid care work, drawing on relevant global and regional evidence.
   • Ensure alignment with international commitments, including SDGs (notably Target 5.4), CEDAW, CRC, ILO standards on maternity and parental leave, decent work and gender equality and human rights obligations.
2. Development of the National Care Policy
   1. Contribute to the drafting and refinement of a gender-responsive National Care Policy, with clear objectives, guiding principles, strategic pillars, and actionable recommendations.
   2. Ensure that the policy addresses childcare, parental leave, care for older persons and persons with disabilities, decent work for care workers, and the redistribution of unpaid care work/co-responsibility for care.
   3. Incorporate linkages between the national care policy and women’s economic empowerment, labour force participation, productivity, and business environment reforms.
3. Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination
   1. Support the design and facilitation of stakeholder consultations involving government ministries, civil society, private sector actors, workers’ organisations, employer organizations and care providers.
   2. Promote inclusive and gender-balanced participation, ensuring women’s voices—particularly carers and care workers—are meaningfully represented as well as participation of men and representatives of persons with disabilities.
   3. Coordinate closely with other consultants or technical experts (e.g. legislative or labour law specialists) to ensure coherence between policy and legal reform processes.
4. Alignment with Legislative and Implementation Frameworks
   1. Provide technical inputs to ensure that the policy is implementable and can inform ongoing and future legislative drafting and regulatory reform, in line with the agreed MOU signed by the Government and Saint Lucia and UN Women.
   2. Propose institutional coordination mechanisms, financing considerations, and implementation pathways, including monitoring and accountability arrangements.
5. Knowledge Products and Validation
   1. Prepare policy briefs, presentations, and summary materials for policy validation meetings and high-level discussions.
   2. Incorporate feedback from consultations and validation processes into the final policy outputs.

The Consultant Gender and Social Policy Expert is expected to deliver the following results:

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

• This is a local home-based consultancy. CARICOM nationals and holders of CARICOM skills certificates are encouraged to apply.
• As part of this assignment, travel is expected to the target country.  The missions will be arranged and covered by UN Women 

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Strong legal analysis and social research and analytical skills. 
• Excellent written and oral communications skills including the conveying complex concepts and recommendations, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences. 
• Ability to interact independently as part of a team. 
• Ability to multi-task and operate effectively in stressful situations. 
• Familiarity with international and regional standards, conventions and other instruments on gender equality, labour and social protection

Required Qualifications:

Education and Certification:

• Master’s Degree or Bachelor's degree with an additional 2 years of qualifying experience in any of these following areas is required: Economics, Social Sciences, Statistics, Public Health, Gender and Development is required.

Experience:

• Demonstrable experience drafting national care policies is required.
• At least 5 years’ experience working on gender equality and/or human rights or 7 years' experience with a Bachelor's degree is required.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience analyzing and integrating gender responsive dimensions into policy and programme formulation and implementation particularly in the context of social protection and care policies or 7 years' experience with a Bachelor's degree is required.
• A highly developed conceptual, analytical and innovative problem-solving ability; demonstrated ability to handle complex issues is desired.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral English is required. 

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures, and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.