The ILO report Care at Work: Investing in Care Leave Policies and Care Services for a More Gender-Equal World of Work provides a global overview of national laws and practices regarding care policies, namely maternity protection, paternity, parental and other care-related leave policies, as well as childcare and long-term care services. The report presents findings from an ILO legal survey of 185 countries, and reviews progress made around the world over the past decade while assessing the persisting and significant legal gaps that translate into a lack of protection and support for millions of workers with family responsibilities across the world.

It does so by taking the requirements and principles of relevant international labour standards – in particular the ILO Conventions and Recommendations on maternity protection and workers with family responsibilities – as the benchmark. The report pays attention to the most frequently excluded workers, such as the self-employed, workers in the informal economy, migrants, and adoptive and LGBTQI+ parents.