Stepped Economic Care
Women’s economic participation is often discussed as if it were a simple question of employment. Get women into jobs, encourage entrepreneurship, close the pay gap — and the problem is solved. Yet for millions of women, economic participation is far more complex. Careers are frequently shaped by domestic responsibilities, unpaid care work, disrupted employment pathways and structural barriers that are rarely measured in traditional workforce systems. These realities are not marginal. They are central to how the modern economy functions.
The Creative Women’s Association (CWA) is currently developing policy to address this gap through two linked initiatives: the Women’s Economic Participation Index System and the Stepped Women’s Economic Participation Model, referred to as Stepped Economic Care. Together, these frameworks aim to recognise the structural factors that shape women’s economic participation and to build a practical system that enables women to move from economic precarity toward stable employment or enterprise creation.
The dominant narrative around employment assumes that workforce participation is a binary condition: individuals are either employed or unemployed. Most government employment programs are designed around this assumption. Participants are assessed primarily on job readiness, with the expectation that appropriate training or job matching will resolve participation barriers.
This model works for many people. But it fails to account for the realities that shape the economic lives of large numbers of women. Domestic responsibilities, caregiving roles, interrupted employment histories, health factors and cultural obligations often create participation barriers that cannot be solved through job placement alone. When these structural constraints are ignored, workforce systems misdiagnose the problem. Women are described as “not workforce ready” when in fact they are navigating complex domestic and care responsibilities that existing policy frameworks do not measure or address.
The result is predictable. Women move in and out of the workforce, experience prolonged economic precarity, and struggle to access pathways that support long-term economic independence.
The Creative Women’s Association proposes a different approach. Rather than treating employment as a single event, the Stepped Women’s Economic Participation Model recognises economic participation as a progressive process. This approach, known as Stepped Economic Care, provides graduated levels of support that correspond to a woman’s actual economic circumstances and readiness for workforce participation.
Participants enter the system at a defined participation step based on their circumstances. As their economic stability improves, they may move upward through the system; if circumstances change, support levels can also be adjusted. This dynamic structure allows assistance to be proportionate and responsive to real-world conditions.
The model includes three participation levels. Step 1, Workforce Ready, supports women who can enter employment or enterprise with relatively light-touch assistance. This may include industry connections, mentoring and short-term workforce navigation.
Step 2, Workforce Transition, supports women who require structured assistance to move toward employment or enterprise. Programs may include workforce readiness training, enterprise development support, mentoring and placement opportunities.
Step 3, Economic Stabilisation, supports women experiencing significant barriers to participation due to domestic care responsibilities, financial precarity or disrupted employment pathways. Support may include case coordination, mentoring, economic planning and connection to specialist services.
Through this stepped structure, women are supported to move progressively toward stable economic participation at a pace that reflects their circumstances rather than an arbitrary employment benchmark.
The Stepped Economic Care model sits within a broader measurement framework known as the Women’s Economic Participation Index System. This system measures the structural conditions shaping women’s economic participation rather than focusing only on employment outcomes.
A key component of the framework is the Domestic and Care Load Index (DCL), which measures unpaid care responsibilities and other structural participation barriers. By capturing this data, policymakers gain a clearer understanding of how domestic responsibilities influence workforce participation and economic stability.
The index system also tracks participation pathways over time, including workforce entry, enterprise development and income stability. Importantly, it records participation in cultural and creative industries, sectors where many women develop independent enterprises or flexible economic activity.
Together these elements form a national participation intelligence system. Rather than relying on fragmented datasets across employment services, welfare systems and community programs, the Women’s Economic Participation Index creates a coherent framework for understanding the structural conditions shaping women’s economic lives.
In practice, the outcomes extend beyond employment statistics. The model supports enterprise creation, strengthens household economic stability and contributes to regional economies. Cultural and creative enterprises, including design, craft production, education and community-based cultural activity, become visible as legitimate economic pathways rather than informal or supplementary work.
Australia already operates stepped models in several policy domains, including disability services and mental health care. Yet no national system currently recognises domestic and care load as a structural barrier to economic participation. The Stepped Women’s Economic Participation Model addresses this gap by combining measurement, participation pathways and support infrastructure into a single framework.
When women are supported to rebuild economic participation gradually and realistically, the benefits extend far beyond individual employment outcomes. Families become more economically stable, communities gain new enterprises, cultural industries expand and the broader economy becomes more productive.
The goal of Stepped Economic Care is not simply to place women into jobs. It is to build a system that recognises the realities shaping women’s lives and to create participation pathways that allow economic independence to grow from those realities rather than ignore them.
Read Related Article:
The Power of Care: Why the Care Economy Matters for Economic Growth – World Economic Forum
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