A few weeks ago, we already knew that 2022 was not going to be off to a good start. News of a new COVID-19 variant emerged and soon many of us were affected by it. As I write these words, in the United States more than 150,000 new infections are reported every day, half of which recorded in my home state, and worldwide rates are even more staggering, if not depressing.
This new found state of the globe, which feels more like a new chapter of a never-ending saga of misfortune (aided by another set of ‘mis-es’ – mishandling of this public health crisis and misinformation taking all kinda of media by storm), brought me back to last year’s reflections on the importance of imagination in strategizing and planning for a future ripe with alternatives to our current economies and profit-prioritizing value systems. It made me want to learn more and appreciate care as a driving factor.
Care has many different meanings, there is self-care for the individual, community care for many and one another, and the unsurprisingly gendered care economy, as in our worlds of binaries, majority of unpaid care-related responsibilities fall on women who in addition provide care-adjacent services. And as is typical of service-based economies in largely patriarchal societies – the more prestigious the care position, the less likely a woman is considered for one, as it equates masculinity with expertise and seriousness.
This phenomenon doesn’t only affect cisgender people – trans men and women as well as non-binary and gender non-conforming people are also affected by it. And since the experience of gender depends on cultural traditions and norms – these trends are felt differently across the globe and often intersect with other aspects of identity, expression and body – including dis/ability, race, sexual orientation and many others.
As UN Women calls for a gender-responsive post-COVID-19 recovery and underlines that the majority of both paid and unpaid care workers are women, we need to not only think about immediate responses such as recognizing these workers as essential and ensuring their safety – whether in the work place or at home, but to also transform the way we associate care with gender and gender-specific behaviors or qualifications. Care is a skill which can be learned and should be nurtured. Not only because many of us may become caregivers or will require care in the future, but primarily due to the fact that without prioritizing care, we will never emerge from the ills of the world, whether a global pandemic or another public health crisis such as racism.
Imagining a world where care remains the most important goal for all of us. Whether speaking through an economic or a societal lens, it means approaching our current value systems with a critical eye, and shifting paradigms to what is rejuvenating not only for humans but also the entire planet. It is investments in research on health, particularly for those most marginalized, in infrastructure moving us away from fossil fuels and dependence on unethical consumption of animals, it is a commitment to enjoyment of human rights for all, including protection from harm and the importance of harm reduction. It is seeing liberation as the end goal, rather than a tool for change.
To fully appreciate and understand the importance of care, we must also face away from profit-driven solutions and embrace the fact that wealth acquisition is a deterrent for development. This, of course, has an effect on philanthropy – those who wish to support a move towards a care-oriented society should prioritize spending down endowments and advocate for social and tax policies which prioritize first and foremost benefits to everyone rather than privileges for the few. For the Global North, and especially Western societies, it may mean an almost unimaginable shift such as moving away from individualist to community-oriented by embracing collective action, learning and growth, and by rethinking many societal structures which feel very natural but in fact constitute a legacy of colonialism, including the very concept of family and its components.
There is still much to reflect on and unpack, but I hold a lot of hope that we will soon be able to move from imagining to building a better, more intentional world.
Further readings
- H. Dockray, Self-care isn’t enough. We need community care to thrive, Mashable, 2019.
- N. Foster, A Historic Moment for the Care Economy, Aspen Institute, 2021.
- I. Ilkkaracan, Promoting women’s economic empowerment: Recognizing and investing in the care economy, UN Women, 2022.
- H. McCulloch and A-J. Poo, The care economy as an infrastructure investment, The Hill, 2021.
- T. van Osh, Towards a Caring Economic Approach, 2013.
- Y.M. Padamsee, Communities of Care, Organizations for Liberations, 2011.
- W. E. Spriggs, Building Back the Care Economy, The American Prospect, 2020.
Leave a Reply