A question of gender justice: Exploring the linkages between women's unpaid care work, education, and gender equality

•Draws on Nancy Fraser's theory of gender justice to assess an action-research study on women's unpaid care work and education in Nepal implemented by ActionAid International.•Explores the role of literacy and education in building women's capacity to increase recognition of their care work.•Considers how increased recognition of unpaid care work can facilitate its redistribution.•Concludes that gender norms about women's role and status in society must be transformed so that unpaid care work does not prohibit girls’ education.

ActionAid International implemented an action-research programme on women's unpaid care work in rural Nepal from March 2011 to December 2012. This social empowerment methodology, Reflect, enabled 106 women to gain recognition for their unpaid care work through their own collection of time-use data. The literacy skills women acquired facilitated greater representation in community meetings calling for a reduction in their unpaid care work rather than shifting this work to girls. The article draws on Fraser's model of gender justice to explore how women's literacy, girls’ education and a more equitable balance of care work are needed to improve women's status.