WIDE Annual Conference 2009, June 18-20 at the University of Basel, in Basel
Care Economy and Care Crises
Program
Care work, paid and unpaid, is a reality for most women all over the world, and care is a field characterized by enormous asymmetries between women and men. The critical analysis of the gender division and the valuation of work have been central motives of and motivations for feminist theories and struggles since the 1970s.
In the context of the global financial crisis (in particular) and other global challenges (such as growing poverty, food crises, climate change, HIV/AIDS pandemic), care crises are becoming more and more evident. The approaches proposed by the political, economical, and humanitarian mainstream to face these crises ? i.e. public austerity policies, monetization of care and commercialization of essential public services, (re)privatization of care into households while simultaneously promoting market access for women ? are a multiple challenge for feminists: The misleading but generally accepted assumption is that women are dedicated to care by nature and that they have enough time and capacity to provide the framework for the (re)construction of care work. Alternative development concepts and economic structures, like a care- and provision driven economy, in which women have always been key actors, are persistently being marginalized. And moreover, global and local care regimes are establishing new unequal divisions of labor among women of different classes and origins.
The conference sheds light on crucial questions concerning these linked and multiple crises:
What are the links between care crises, proposed remedies, and gender inequalities? What kinds of concepts and projects do we as feminists have to challenge the intersectional structures of power, the binary gender order, and the old and newly reshaped inequalities? How can we promote alternative conceptions of work, time, benefit, livelihood, and well-being?
Care and unpaid work have been important issues of the new feminist movement. The ways of discussing them however, have changed. The WIDE Annual Conference 2009 will provide space to learn and discuss paid and unpaid care work and the current debate in more detail. The conference will highlight the dynamics of care from different perspectives: north, east and south. We will try to link care economy to other spheres of the economy, particularly to the global financial crisis, as well as to ongoing debates on development and welfare, in which gender equality and social justice are at stake.
The conference provides spaces for discussions and brings together theory, experience, and policies from different regions. In addition, it offers an excellent opportunity to get to know the international WIDE network and the local platform WIDE Switzerland. The WIDE Annual Conference 2009 is open for all interested and committed individuals.
Contact
Organization of the Annual Conference, Contact for WIDE Europe
Franziska Müller
cfd
Falkenhöheweg 8
P.O. Box 5761
CH-3001 Bern
+41 31 300 50 60
www.cfd-ch.org
franziska.mueller@cfd-ch.org
Scientific Forum, Organization of the Board
Lilian Fankhauser
Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies ICFG
University of Bern
Hallerstrasse 12
3012 Bern
+41 31 631 52 28
www.izfg.unibe.ch
lilian.fankhauser@izfg.unibe.ch