Abstracts June 18th
Abstract of the theme of the day
Caring and social provisioning as a starting point for feminist analyses
Everywhere caring for others is basic for human well-being, but the social organization of care is not everywhere the same. The way care is organized in a society is decisive for gender relations and gender equality. This has been a basic issue for feminist analysis since more than 30 years. Meanwhile a lot of research has been done and discussions have been going on.
The UNRISD study on "Political and Social Economy of Care" (forthcoming in spring 2009) serves as source and basis for the discussion, It is the first comprehensive comparative research North-South. Besides its huge amount of information and new findings it is an interesting starting point to discuss theoretical approaches, methods, notions, and concepts from a feminist perspective.
The goal of conference day one is to learn more about the workers, the working conditions and the institutional contexts in which care work is done (paid, unpaid in families, in social networks etc.), to understand the dimensions and dynamics of the care economy and to specify and contextualize the actual care crises. The first conference day will provide us with knowledge and capacities to explore and develop feminist approaches and practices in the course of the conference.
Abstracts of the afternoon workshops
Workshop 1: Care Realities in Eastern Europe and CIS Countries
Organised and facilitated by Michaela Marksova Tominova from Karat and Anna Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz form the feminist Think Tank Poland
The workshop's main objective is to analyse women's role as main care givers under previous (till 1989) and current political and economic systems in Eastern Europe. It will point at current pressures women face in this sphere and look for alternatives that would serve women's needs best. To understand the Eastern European actual care realities it is important to investigate the process of system's transformation experienced in the 1990s. That is why the workshop will begin with an analysis/presentation of main changes that the care system has undergone for the last 20 years and will be followed by the discussion on gender relations and the economic & political factors influencing care realities in the East.
Taller 2: Las realidades de los cuidados en Centroamérica y Latinoamérica (en Español)
Organizado y facilitado por Mayra Moro Coco Y Rocío Lleó de la Plataforma Española de WIDE (CONGDE).
El principal objetivo del taller es presentar las realidades de los cuidados en Latinoamérica y Centroamérica y analizar el papel que tienen las alianzas entre la sociedad civil en España yestas regiones a la hora de movilizar y realizar incidencia política para conseguir incluir la economía de los cuidados en la agenda de desarrollo internacional. Se presentaran dos ejemplos de estas alianzas (las campañas ("Muévete por la Igualdad, Es de Justicia" y "Sin mujeres, no es democracia") para alimentar la discusión en torno a dos ejes: En primer lugar el taller explorara las relaciones entre la participación política de las mujeres y la economía de los cuidados, el trabajo domestico y los derechos económicos de las mujeres en el contexto centroamericano y latinoamericano. En segundo lugar, se discutirá como las redes formadas por ONG españolas y centroamericanas y latinoamericanas pueden contribuir a promover el cambio social, movilizar recursos e influenciar a la opinión pública y a las instituciones gubernamentales en torno a estos temas.
Workshop 2: Care Realities in Latin and Central America (in Spanish)
The workshop's main objective is to present care realities in Latin and Central America and to analyze Latin and Central America-Spain civil society alliances role on mobilization and advocacy towards including care economy on the international development agenda. Two examples of these alliances ("Muevete por la Igualdad, Es de Justicia" and "Sin mujeres, no es democracia") will be presented to trigger the discussion on two issues: Firstly the workshop will address the link among political participation and care economy, domestic work and Women economic rights in the context on Central and Latin America. And secondly, we will discuss how networks formed by Spanish and Latin and Central America ONGs can contribute to promote change, mobilize resources and influence public opinion and decision-makers around these issues.
Workshop 3: Who talks about what? - Notions, Definitions, Concepts
Facilitated by Ulrike Knobloch, Economist Switzerland
What is meant by care, care work, care regime? How is care work related to other notions, e.g. unpaid work or social services? And how is care regime related to care system or care structure? Which definitions and concepts are used by organisations like UNIFEM, UNRISD, UNDP and ILO? In this workshop we will have a closer look at the notions and concepts of care economy discussing their differences and similarities, their problems and merits. The aim is to provide an introduction into the subject of the conference.
Workshop 4: Approaches to care from the feminist perspective of intersectionality
Facilitated by Patricia Muñoz Cabrera, WIDE chair
This workshop will explore the multiple realities informing the Care crisis and the differentiated impact of the crisis on women.
We start from the assumption that intersectional approaches to the care crisis can facilitate a more systemic, and integrated analysis to the problem of women's exclusion from care services, and the role of the State in the current context of budget cuts in the care sector.
Participants to the workshop will be encouraged to explore Care in connection with public/private discourses, with rural/urban realities, care as cutting across race/class/gender/sexuality intersections, and care and its relation to heteronormativity.
One of the expected outcomes of the workshop is to consider some alternatives to the current context of crisis in the care economy from an intersectional feminist perspective. Alternatives to be explored will include policy recommendations and lines of political action.
Workshop 5: Social and economic sciences: En route for a common theoretical framework
Facilitated by Annemarie Sancar, Senior Gender Advisor SDC, WIDE Switzerland
Most of the recent research on Care Economy is in its approach sociologically driven and lacks the economic reflection to explain the gender gaps. In this workshop we will critically reflect the gap between scientific fields, disciplines and discourses: Which scientific disciplines are discussing what? How can we overcome the theoretical dichotomy of the different approaches of economical and social sciences? In the discussion we will construct a common theoretical framework for social and economic science and outline a dynamic interdisciplinary approach.