By Blossom Ukoha According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), women perform 76.2 per cent of unpaid care work globally and spend 3.2 times as much time on it as men. This unequal burden has significant consequences for women’s economic participation, earnings and career progression. While women’s economic empowerment is often discussed in terms of education, employment opportunities, entrepreneurship and access to finance, childcare remains a critical part of the equation. Without reliable, affordable care, many women struggle to enter the workforce, sustain businesses, pursue promotions or earn incomes that reflect their abilities. The Invisible Cost of Unpaid Care The scale of the challenge is substantial. The ILO estimated in 2024 that approximately 708 million women worldwide were outside the labour force because of unpaid care responsibilities, compared with around 40 million men. These figures reveal a structural problem: women’s time is essential to families and communities, yet much of…

It is bedtime, but your child is still awake. Tomorrow is the school presentation, and the anxiety that has been building all week has finally surfaced. “I don’t think I can do it,” the child says, fighting back tears. A parent could quickly respond, “Of course you can. Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” But another response may be more powerful: “I can see that you are worried. Tell me what is making you nervous.” That small difference matters. Instead of immediately trying to remove the child’s discomfort, the parent creates space for the child to recognise, express and work through it. In moments like this, resilience is being built not through a major intervention, but through an ordinary conversation. Emotional resilience does not mean that children never feel afraid, disappointed, angry or overwhelmed. It means developing the ability to recognise difficult emotions, seek support, regulate responses and recover from challenges. The…

By Laura Jones At 6:00 a.m., the day has already begun. A child needs breakfast, a school bag needs finding, a message from a business partner in another time zone is waiting for a response, and a meeting is already on the calendar. Before she has walked into the office, a woman may have already been a mother, caregiver, strategist, employer and decision maker. Then the world expects her to enter the boardroom and perform as though none of that exists. This is the part of women’s leadership we do not always see. We see the companies, awards, investments, international appointments and photographs from global stages. We celebrate women for what they have built but rarely see the daily negotiation between ambition and responsibility that makes much of that success possible. So, how easy is it to balance motherhood, business and global influence? The honest answer is that it is not…