For women and girls in particular, their socially prescribed role as carers can undermine their rights and limit their opportunities, capabilities and choices – posing a fundamental obstacle to gender equality and well-being. This report seeks to move towards a world in which individuals and society ‘recognise and value the importance of different forms of care, but without reinforcing care work as something that only women can or should do’. Through examples of initiatives taking place around the world, this report shows how policies and programmes can be designed in ways which expand women’s opportunities and choices, rather than restricting them only to traditional gender roles tied to motherhood and the domestic domain. The report makes four key, overarching recommendations: care work must be recognised as a core development issues; development policies and programmes must challenge stereotyped assumptions about gender roles; initiatives to promote women’s economic participation must include an analysis of the interrelationship between paid work and care work; and greater solidarity is needed among those working on the full range of care issues.