CAREdiZO project emphasize in Micro-enterprises and Micro-Civil Society Organizations (up to 10 employees) that the recent years faced many challenges. Some fundamental challenges are to cope with the ever-changing legal landscape, the unprecedented economic uncertainty, the difficulty in hiring new skilled staff, the rise in inflation rates and interest rates, the reduced access to finance and the transition to a digital and sustainable economy. Micro-enterprises and Micro-CSOs are the 93.5% of all enterprises. Thus, it is crucial to empower their directors and/ HR staff (when it exists) to apply gender mainstreaming to tackle the gender care gap. These enterprises or/and civil society organizations have specific characteristics and face more challenges than larger enterprises especially in aligning with all the policies and directions of law and EU -mainly due to lack of human resources. The directors or HR staff (when it exists) in these companies/organizations most of times do not have the time or/and resources or/and knowledge on how to apply gender mainstreaming and why- what profit this will have to the company.

Moreover, the project recognizes the importance of raising the awareness of men and women on the unequal informal unpaid care work of women who share the 76.2% of the total of hours provided and the negative effects that this has to the women’s full enjoyment of rights. This care model is based on the “traditional” male breadwinner/female family carer archetype in which men are engaged in productive work and are the sole/main earner in the household while women are confined to domestic and generally undervalued tasks, especially caregiving activities for children, elders, and household. Informal care has a clear negative impact on women’s employment opportunities and working hours