Care work

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Child care is care work
... also caring for old people

Care work or care work describes activities of caring and taking care of oneself.

The expression care work originated in the English- speaking world in the 1990s and followed feminist theories about reproductive work in the course of the second women's movement . There, unpaid housework was made visible as socially necessary work, mostly done by women, and its significance for the restoration of labor was worked out. With the term “care”, the work content and the relationship aspects of care work were reflected more strongly. "Care work" includes paid and unpaid work. It is based (to the needs of others english other centered work ).

Nursing work includes , for example, childcare or care for the elderly , but it also includes family support, home care and friendly help. Most of this work is done by women. Up to the present day, the various strands are not seen as a socio-politically central, coherent field of politics, nor are they dealt with accordingly.

Meaning of the term

The academic and political discussions about care address the fundamental social significance of care work, the specific content level of these activities and the dependencies of people as a condition of their existence.

In English, the word care can be used in different contexts; It is used in the sense of caring about , i.e. the emotional concern about, but also means active doing with taking care of or draws attention to aspects of self-care with take care of yourself . Care is to be understood as an attitude of responsibility and caring practice.

Care work can be paid or unpaid and can be provided in the private, domestic sector as well as in public institutions or as a market service. It takes place in interactions and interpersonal relationships. According to Margrit Brückner , it encompasses "the entire area of ​​female-related, personal care and nursing, ie family and institutionalized tasks of care, upbringing and care, and represents both a form of practice based on asymmetrical relationships and an ethical attitude". However, different studies have differentiated and emphasized care work. It is controversial, for example, whether care work always takes place in situations of strong one-sided dependency, whether it must be inherent in a specific attitude on the part of those providing care, or whether self-care can also be part of care work. A distinction is sometimes made between direct and indirect care work, i.e. activities that are not performed directly with , but for another person - such as cooking, cleaning, shopping. It is undisputed, however, that human societies are inconceivable without care work. Because all people depend to a large extent on the support of others, for example in childhood or when they are ill, but also in everyday life.

Care economy

Care work also plays an important role economically. In Germany , for example, 19% of employees worked in traditional care sectors in 2010: 6.2% in education, 10.6% in health and social services and 2.2% in domestic services. If, however, not only paid, but also unpaid care work is examined, its economic relevance increases again significantly. For Switzerland, the economist Mascha Madörin calculated an hourly volume of unpaid housework, childcare and care of 7,697 hours compared to a total volume of paid working hours of 6,974 hours. And in an extensive time survey study by the Federal Statistical Office it was found that the unpaid working time in the FRG exceeds that of the paid work by 1.7 times.

In the care economy, care work is viewed primarily as a personal service , as “a service that is not possible without the recipient of the service being present”. These direct care services are provided in subject-subject relationships. Hence, the time used is itself an integral part of the performance. For good quality care work, it is also necessary to take into account the needs and wishes of the respective care recipient, which requires discussions and time. Personal services can therefore only be rationalized to a limited extent in the wage labor sector. They require a high volume of work and personnel that cannot be shortened at will. In relation to other economic sectors, the economic theorist William Baumol spoke of a cost sickness in these sectors as early as 1967 .

Care work and gender relations

Care work is not evenly distributed in society; it is mostly done by women. This applies both to the area of ​​unpaid care work and to the paid area.

For example, over 80% women work in the health professions. With a few exceptions such as the medical profession, wages in this sector are low and the body care work is associated with little social recognition. The same applies to the area of ​​unpaid care work. Here, too, women take on a significantly higher proportion of care work in the family, although fewer and fewer women can or want to orientate themselves towards a pure housewife role . Using a secondary analysis of the 2012/2013 time use survey conducted by the Federal Statistical Office, the Gender Care Gap shows "that women do 87 minutes more care work a day than men, which corresponds to a gender care gap of 52.4%". Around 2/3 of the unpaid family care is also provided by women and remains largely invisible in private life as “typical women's work ”. A gender hierarchical division of labor is clearly recognizable in care work . Against this background, Equal Care Day was launched in 2016 as a leap day to draw attention to the fact that the lion's share of care activities is still performed by women.

Care work and migration

The link between care work and labor migration is discussed using the catchphrase “ global care chains ”. It is stated in this discussion that care work is increasingly being outsourced to migrant women . While these women do caring jobs for children or the elderly in industrialized countries , their own children and relatives stay behind in their countries of origin. There they are mostly cared for by other female family members, but sometimes also by migrants or women from poorer classes. The American sociologist Rhacel Parreñas therefore speaks of an “international division of reproductive labor ”.

For Germany, the feminist care debate refers in particular to the outsourcing of family care and support work to Eastern European women who do care work under poor working conditions and in precarious situations.

Care work and social inequality

With the conception of four different reproduction models, Gabriele Winker pointed out that the ways in which care work can be organized in families differ significantly depending on the economic situation. Firstly, it outlines an economized model in which the family members have permanent and full-time employment and can outsource their care work to a paid domestic help. Second, it describes a couple-centered model in which the man mostly works full-time while the woman remains responsible for reproductive work and works part-time . Care work can only be outsourced to a lesser extent here. In a third, the precarious reproductive model, such a possibility is completely eliminated. Our own reproduction as well as the care for relatives and children takes place under considerable stress; Employment relationships are often characterized by insecurities, low wages and high flexibility requirements. Finally, as the fourth model, Winker defines subsistence-oriented reproduction. These people move on the poverty line , they cannot sell their labor for various reasons and are dependent on basic social security.

However, taking on unpaid care work itself also acts as a risk of poverty, u. a. because it often goes hand in hand with the restriction of one's own professional activity. This not only has acute effects, but also effects over the life course and increases the risk of both own in- work poverty and poverty in old age .

Care crisis

In recent years and in the context of the economic crises since 2008, there has been increasing reference to moments of crisis and gaps in care in the care sector and a care crisis or a crisis of social reproduction has been noted. This diagnosis is illustrated by various developments. With cuts in the social sector and the growing importance of market-based criteria in the health and care sector, working conditions in these sectors deteriorate. Tight timing, chronic staff shortages and a high workload make quality care work increasingly difficult. At the same time, the high workloads, for example in care for the elderly and in the day-care center, lead to very high sickness-related absences of just under 29 and 23 days a year. The displeasure about this was expressed in 2009 in a month-long strike by educators for higher wages and improved health protection.

But people with care obligations are also under great stress in their private lives. A large number of caregivers have reached or exceeded their limits and around 40% of caregivers show symptoms of burnout . Parents too are faced with the difficult question of the compatibility of family and work , while at the same time they have to cope with growing tasks in raising children due to new educational requirements. Gabriele Winker sees the cause of the outlined crisis tendencies in an “acute contradiction between profit maximization and the reproduction of labor”. Under the catchphrase “ Care Revolution ”, she therefore presents a political transformation strategy that turns away from the logic of capitalist production of goods. "The aim of the Care Revolution is a society that is oriented towards human needs, especially caring for one another - and has a radically democratic structure". Gabriele Winker describes the networking of care activists and the redistribution of care work, the implementation of a livelihood even without wage labor (for example through unconditional basic income ), the reduction of working hours and the expansion of social infrastructure as possible steps in social change in the sense of the care revolution a social upgrading of care work and finally the democratization of the care infrastructure and the socialization of all means of production. For this, it would be necessary to establish a culture of solidarity and togetherness.

With this in mind, a “Care Revolution” campaign conference took place in March 2014 as a reaction to the various aspects of the crisis in the care sector. Around 500 people from different areas of care work and political initiatives met in Berlin . Their concern was to exchange ideas, to network and to be active. In a final resolution it was made clear that care work “should be made a central subject of political negotiation”. For this purpose, the “Care Revolution” network was founded as a nationwide association of over 70 groups and initiatives with regional networks.

See also

literature

  • Reimer Gronemeyer , Charlotte Jurk (Ed.): Let's deprofessionalize! A critical dictionary on the language in care and social work . transcript, Bielefeld 2017, ISBN 978-3-8394-3554-0 .
  • Gabriele Winker : Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, ISBN 978-3-8376-3040-4 .
  • Brigitte Aulenbacher ; Maria Dammayr (Ed.): Caring for yourself and others. The crisis and future of care in modern society . Beltz Juventa, Weinheim and Basel 2014
  • Brigitte Aulenbacher; Birgit Riegraf ; Hildegard Theobald (Ed.): Concern: Work, Conditions, Regime . Special Volume 20. Social World. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2014
  • Barbara Thiessen: The attempt to publicly control private care work. Developments and challenges in family policy , in: Dorothea Christa Krüger, Holger Herma, Anja Schierbaum (Ed.): Family (s) today: developments, controversies, prognoses . Beltz Juventa, Weinheim 2013, pp. 175–189
  • Argument 292: Care - a feminist critique of political economy? 2011, year 53, issue 3
  • Ursula Apitzsch ; Marianne Schmidbaur (Ed.): Care and Migration. The disposal of human reproductive work along gender and poverty lines . Barbara Budrich Publishing House, Opladen 2010
  • Vera Moser, Inga Pinhard (Ed.): Care - Who cares for whom? Yearbook of women's and gender studies in educational science . 6/2010. Budrich, Opladen 2010
  • Jane Lewis: Work family balance, gender and policy . Cheltenham: Elgar, 2009 [Lewis is a professor at LSE ].
  • Daniela Gottschlich: Care Economy. Sustainable business from a feminist perspective , in: Gottschlich, Daniela et al. (Ed.): Real utopias. Perspectives for a Peaceful and Just World , PapyRossa Verlag, Cologne 2008, pp. 123-134.
  • Madonna Harrington Meyer (Ed.): Care work: gender, class, and the welfare state . Routledge, New York 2000
  • Gisela Bock , Barbara Duden : Work out of love - love as work: the emergence of housework in capitalism , in: Women and Science. Contributions to the Berlin Summer University for Women July 1976 , Berlin 1977

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emily K. Abel; Margaret K. Nelson: Circles of Care: Work and Identity in Women's Lives . State University of New York Press, 1990
  2. ↑ Haidinger, Bettina; Knittler, Käthe: Intro - Feminist Economy . Mandelbaum critique & utopia, Vienna 2014, pp. 75–86
  3. ↑ Lynch, Kathleen; Walsh, Judy: Love, Care and Solidarity: What Is and Is Not Commodifiable . In: Lynch, Kathleen; Baker, John; Lyons, Maureen (Ed.): Affective Equality. Love, Care and Injustice . Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2009, p. 36
  4. ↑ Margrit Brückner : Developments in the Care Debate - Roots and Concepts . In: Apitzsch, Ursula; Schmidbaur, Marianne (Ed.): Care and Migration. The disposal of human reproductive work along gender and poverty lines . Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2010, p. 43
  5. ^ Gubitzer, Luise; Mader, Katharina: Care Economy. Your theoretical location and further development. In: Kurswechsel 4/2011, pp. 7–21
  6. ^ Brückner, Margrit: Developments in the Care Debate - Roots and Concepts . In: Apitzsch, Ursula; Schmidbaur, Marianne (Ed.): Care and Migration. The disposal of human reproductive work along gender and poverty lines . Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2010, p. 43
  7. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, pp. 22–27
  8. ^ Gubitzer, Luise; Mader, Katharina: Care Economy. Your theoretical location and further development. In: Change of course. Journal for social, economic and environmental alternatives, 2011, No. 4, pp. 7–21
  9. ^ Chorus, Silke: Care Economy in Postfordism. Perspectives of an integral economics theory . Westfälisches Dampfboot Verlag, Münster 2013, pp. 33–40
  10. ↑ Knobloch, Ulrike: Worry Economy as a Critical Economic Theory of Worry . In: Denknetz. Yearbook 2013, pp. 10–12. PDF , accessed on May 19, 2015
  11. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, p. 24
  12. ^ Madörin, Mascha: Care economy - a challenge for economics. In: Bauhardt, Christine; Çağlar, Gülay (Ed.): Gender and Economics. Feminist Critique of Political Economy . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, p. 94
  13. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Where is the time? The time use of the population in Germany 2001/02 . 2003, p. 11
  14. ^ Madörin, Mascha: Care economy - a challenge for economics . In: Bauhardt, Christine; Çağlar, Gülay (Ed.): Gender and Economics. Feminist Critique of Political Economy . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, p. 97
  15. ^ Madörin, Mascha: Care economy - a challenge for economics. In: Bauhardt, Christine; Çağlar, Gülay (Ed.): Gender and Economics. Feminist Critique of Political Economy . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2010, pp. 81-104
  16. ↑ Federal Employment Agency: The labor market in Germany. Health and Nursing Professions. Labor market reporting - 2011 . 2011, p. 8
  17. ↑ Klünder, Nina: Differentiated determination of the gender care gap on the basis of representative time use data 2012/13. Expertise for the Federal Government's Second Gender Equality Report. Frankfurt 2016.
  18. ^ Backes, Gertrud M .; Wolfinger, Martina; Amrhein, Ludwig: Gender inequality in care. In: Bauer, Ulrich; Büscher, Andreas (Ed.): Social inequality and care. Contributions to social science-oriented nursing research . 2008, pp. 132-153
  19. ^ Hochschild, Arlie Russell: Global Care Chains and Emotional Value. In: Giddens, Anthony; Hutton, Will (Ed.): The Future of Global Capitalism . Campus, Frankfurt am Main, New York 2001, pp. 157–176
  20. ↑ Parrenas, Rhacel: International division of reproductive work: Philippine housekeepers. In: Bertram, Hans; Ehlert, Nancy (Ed.): Family, Attachments, and Care. Family change in a diverse modern age . Verlag Barbara Budrich, Opladen 2011, pp. 173–196
  21. ↑ Lutz, Helma: From the world market to the private household. The new maids in the age of globalization . Barbara Budrich Publishing House, Opladen 2007
  22. ↑ Apitzsch, Ursula; Schmidbaur, Marianne (Ed.): Care and Migration. The disposal of human reproductive work along gender and poverty lines . Barbara Budrich Publishing House, Opladen 2010
  23. ↑ Hess, Sabine: Globalized housework. Au pair as a migration strategy for women from Eastern Europe . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2005
  24. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Social Reproduction in the Crisis - Care Revolution as Perspective. In: Das Argument 53, 2011, No. 252, pp. 333-344
  25. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, pp. 56–71
  26. ^ Backes, Gertrud M .; Wolfinger, Martina; Amrhein, Ludwig: Gender inequality in care . In: Bauer, Ulrich; Büscher, Andreas (Ed.): S ocial inequality and care. Contributions to social science-oriented nursing research . 2008, pp. 132-153
  27. ↑ Jürgens, Kerstin: Germany in the reproductive crisis? In: Leviathan, 2010, 38 (4), pp. 559-587
  28. ↑ Jurczyk, Karin: Care in the Crisis? New questions about family work . In: Apitzsch, Ursula; Schmidbaur, Marianne (Ed.): Care and Migration. The disposal of human reproductive work along gender and poverty lines . Barbara Budrich Verlag, Opladen 2010, pp. 59–76
  29. ↑ Becker-Schmidt, Regina ; Krüger, Helga: Hot spots in current social structures: Asymmetrical work and gender relations - neglected spheres of social reproduction . In: Aulenbacher, Brigitte; Riegraf, Birgit; Theobald, Hildegard (Ed.): Concern: Work, Conditions, Regime . Special Volume 20, Social World. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2014, pp. 12–41
  30. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, pp. 56–71
  31. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, pp. 74, 77
  32. ↑ Rudzio, Kolja: The day care center fight . In: Die Zeit, June 12, 2009, p. 22. Full text online [accessed on May 19, 2015]
  33. ↑ Gröning, Katharina; Kunstmann, Anne-Christin; Rensing, Elisabeth: In good and bad days: areas of conflict in home care . Mabuse Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, pp. 37–42
  34. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: exhaustion of the social . In Luxemburg. Social Analysis and Left Practice, 2012, No. 4, pp. 6–13; Digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeitschrift-luxemburg.de%2Ferschopfung-des-sozialen%2F~GB%3D~IA%3D~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D~ double-sided% 3D ~ LT% 3D ~ PUR% 3D [accessed on May 19, 2015]
  35. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015, p. 143
  36. ↑ Winker, Gabriele: Care Revolution. Steps into a solidary society . transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2015
  37. ^ Resolution of the Care Revolution action conference - Before the Care Revolution comes the Care Resolution. In: care-revolution.org. 2014, accessed October 20, 2018 .