1.4.4 Caring economies
Helpful prior learning and learning objectives
Helpful prior learning:
Section 1.1.1 The economy and you which explains what an economy is and how it is relevant to students’ lives
Section 1.1.2 The embedded economy, which explains the relationship between the economy and society and Earth’s systems.
Section 1.3.6 Households, markets, state and commons, which explains four provisioning institutions in the economy and their interconnection
Section 1.3.7 Care in the economy, which explains the importance of care in the economy, the types of care, and why care is undervalued
Section 1.4.1 Biomimicry for economic design, which explains how Nature’s Unifying Patterns provide principles for regenerative economic design
Section S.1 Systems thinking, which explains what a system is and why systems thinking is useful. (coming soon)
Learning objectives:
describe the characteristics of caring economies
discuss how the 5 Rs (recognise, reduce, redistribute, represent and reward) can support transition to more caring economies
discuss barriers to strengthening care in economies
The annual World Happiness Report ranks countries by happiness, exploring the factors leading to human wellbeing. Finland came out on top in 2024, but why?
Finland’s high incomes and long life expectancy help, but another strength is economic equality and care. Finland has less income and wealth inequality than many other wealthy countries. The government uses distributive strategies (Section 1.4.3) like progressive taxes and strong social welfare programmes to promote economic equality. There is less social comparison and pressure to consume material goods, and people are more satisfied with their lives.
Figure 1. Finnish happiness: it’s not just the saunas!
(Credit: Ville Kurki CC BY-SA 4.0)
Finland also has strong social support, offering substantial financial aid and work leave benefits for people to care for children and other relatives. Healthcare is excellent and affordable. Finland’s emphasis on care and equity strengthens social cohesion. Finns trust each other and their government, supporting a strong, resilient society. Finland shows us that building a caring economy is a key part of human wellbeing.
We all need care and care must be provided by others. How can we design our economies to prioritise and support the care we all need?
What are the characteristics of caring economies?
Caring economies have a number of characteristics that we can keep in mind when we consider concrete strategies for improving care:
wellbeing as a purpose: the purpose or goal of caring economies is human and ecological wellbeing. Care is recognised as the core of the economy. Caring economies have a moral compass and worldview that focuses on human and ecological wellbeing. Care services and care work are seen as an investment, not a cost. Care is provided by many provisioning institutions in many ways. The state can and should provide care directly in some contexts, but should always indirectly support care from other provisioning institutions with its policies and systems design.
strong networks: caring economies are relational. They create conditions that strengthen families and community relationships, as well as relationships with nature. Like diverse, complex food webs strengthen ecosystems (Section 1.2.5), diverse and complex social relationships create more resilient economies.
diffuse power and equity: caring economies distribute and balance power among stakeholder groups, increasing trust and social cohesion, supporting healthy democracies. Diffuse power makes it more likely that the needs of diverse members of society will be heard and met. Gender equity and female empowerment are particularly important conditions for caring economies.
How can the 5 Rs support more caring economies?
The United Nations and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have outlined five broad categories of strategies that can strengthen care in economies, known as the 5 Rs.
Recognise care: making all forms of care, paid and unpaid, visible in our societies and economies. We should measure it, talk about it, value it and consider it in policies and initiatives.
This Regenerative Economics book is unusual among economics textbooks for including care and is part of efforts to raise awareness of care . Another example is Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index which goes beyond mainstream economic measures like GDP to include psychological well-being, community vitality, and cultural preservation. If we “measure what we treasure”, we can make care more visible and encourage more support for care.
Reduce care: reducing the number of hours spent on unpaid indirect care and direct care tasks (Section 1.3.7) frees up time for caregivers, mainly women and girls, to take paid employment which improves womens’ power and equity in society. They can also use the time to pursue education, build a wider social network and take leisure, all of which are important for human wellbeing.
The state can prioritise improving water, transport, housing and electricity infrastructure which saves hours on indirect care every day. Improved access to labour-saving technologies such as clothes washing machines is also important. More extensive social services, such as childcare, eldercare, and health care, reduces unpaid time spent on direct care.
In the short video below, Hans Rosling explains the outsized role of the clothes washing machine in reducing time spent on care work.
Redistribute care: sharing care work more evenly across society:
Other members of households beyond the primary female caregiver can take on more work, including male partners, youth, and older generations
The community can provide more voluntary unpaid care work
The market can provide paid care services, or offer employees free care for children, relatives and other loved-ones in need
The state can provide free or subsidised care services
The household, community, markets and state can all shape the conditions in society to make redistribution easier. Gender stereotypes, social norms and laws can be shifted to support redistribution of care work. Markets and the state need to shift financial incentives, like gender disparities in paid work, that cause more women to take up unpaid care work.
In Sweden, parental leave policies are designed to encourage both parents to share childcare responsibilities. Parents are given 480 days of paid parental leave, some of which is only available to men in a use-it or lose-it deal. This policy helps redistribute care work more equally between parents and helps shift gender stereotypes
Represent carers: Ensuring that carers' voices are heard in decision-making processes means that their needs and the value of care work are considered in market and state policies and economic decisions.
In Brazil, the state Unified Health System (SUS) requires community participation in its health councils and conferences. This inclusion ensures that caregivers and community health workers can influence healthcare policies and practices, representing their interests and the needs of those they care for.
Reward care: Rewarding care work involves providing fair compensation and social recognition for caregivers, acknowledging the importance of their contribution to social, ecological and economic health.
In paid care work in markets, it is critical that employers pay workers a living wage. Businesses can also offer paid leave or care funding to employees to carry out unpaid care work in households and communities. The state can also acknowledge unpaid care work in calculations of retirement benefits, so that unpaid care workers are not further disadvantaged with lower state pensions in old age. The state can pass minimum wage laws and maximum working hours to secure better working conditions for paid carers. A universal basic income could provide adequate financial support for otherwise unpaid carers.
What are the barriers to strengthening care in the economy?
There are some barriers to improving care in economies. You can see that the 5Rs are intended to address these barriers:
gender inequality in politics and business: Women, who are mainly responsible for care work, are underrepresented in politics and business. Many many who have the power to improve care are unaware of its importance. Changing laws and business practices is more likely when women have a seat at the decision-making table.
Figure 2. Gender inequality on display at the COP 28 climate negotiations in Dubai
(Credit: UNclimatechange CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
cultural factors / gender stereotypes: Related to gender inequality are culture-specific gender stereotypes that view women’s role as caregivers, and do not view care and domestic work as real work. Raising awareness of the importance of care work and passing laws intended to redistribute care in society will impact cultural perspectives on care.
budget constraints: The state and businesses need to invest in direct and indirect care in order to redistribute and reward care work appropriately. However, care is often the first thing cut from state and business budgets when money is tight. This is because care is viewed as a cost, not an investment, and because people in power assume that unpaid care will always step in to bridge the gap.
Activity 1.4.4
Concept: Regeneration
Skills: Thinking skills (transfer)
Time: Varies depending on option
Type: Individual, pairs, and group depending on option
Option 1: Discussion on care and biomimicry
30-40 minutes
If you read Section 1.4.1 Biomimicry for economic design, look back to remind yourself about Nature’s Unifying Patterns. You may want to note them down on a piece of paper or a digital document.
Now consider the strategies for strengthening care in the economy mentioned in this section. Discuss with a partner, or as a whole class:
What connections can you find between care strategies and Nature’s Unifying Patterns?
Are there other ideas from Nature’s Unifying Patterns that you think could also strengthen care in our economies?
Option 2: Venn diagram - Circular, distributive and care economy strategies
40 minutes
You may have noticed that there are overlaps between circular, distributive and care economy strategies, but also some differences.
On a sheet of paper, or digital document, draw the 3-part Venn diagram (Figure 3) and complete it with shared strategies in the overlapping areas in the middle, and distinct strategies in the outer edges.
Discuss with a partner or as a group:
Why might it be important to recognise that some strategies address multiple goals?
To what extent do you think it is possible to keep the goals of circularity distribution and care in mind when considering strategies to meet human needs within planetary boundaries?
Figure 3. A Venn diagram can help us see overlaps and differences between circular, distributive and care strategies
Option 3: Discussion - Should unpaid care work be paid?
40 minutes
Use a discussion format that you are familiar with to consider whether unpaid care work should be paid. Assume that there is a feasible way to pay for currently unpaid care and domestic work.
Before discussing, take time to brainstorm some arguments for and against paying for unpaid care. After you have some of your own arguments, you may want to consider those below. Classify them as either for payment (“For”), or against (“Against”) payment for unpaid care. Arguments come from Economies that Dare to Care, Hot or Cool Institute.
Paying for care does not challenge the underlying gender roles and inequality associated with care work. For/Against?
In our current economies, activities with no financial exchange are undervalued and ignored. We want care work to be valued and recognised. For/Against?
Paid carers usually earn little money. Financial exchange does not necessarily result in greater social and economic value of caring activities. For/Against?
Care work tends to be environmentally-friendly work, and we have a huge shortage of carers worldwide. It would be better for people and planet if a larger proportion of people worked in care instead of ecologically and socially damaging activities. For/Against?
Currently, caregivers have to make the difficult choice between dropping out of the workforce and providing unpaid care to loved ones themselves, or going out to work to pay for others to provide care. For/Against?
When care is paid for in markets, there is often pressure to deliver it with as little time and cost as possible to maximise profits. For/Against?
Care work is valuable to the economy and society, but without pay, carers remain financially dependent now and in the future through reduced retirement contributions. For/Against?
Paid care is often shifted from women in the Global North to migrant women from the Global South, whose journey, lack of power and global care chains can put them in vulnerable positions. For/Against?
Option 4 - Where is care in the embedded economy?
25 minutes
You have learned about the embedded economy model (Figure 4) in Section 1.1.2.
Draw the embedded economy diagram on a piece of paper or copy and paste the diagram into a digital document.
Annotate the diagram to show where care occurs in the economy. Be ready to share your ideas with another student or your class.
Figure 4. The embedded economy model
(Credit: Kate Raworth and Marcia Mihotich CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Ideas for longer activities, deeper engagement, and projects are listed in Subtopic 1.5 Taking action
Checking for understanding
Further exploration
Jayati Ghosh: Rebalancing Power - a fascinating podcast interview with development economist Jayati Ghosh on the impacts of inequality, including the role and treatment of care work in society. Difficulty level: medium
EU Care Atlas - an interactive map tool developed by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) to map how care deficits directly relate to inequality in European countries. Difficulty level: high
These Further Exploration resources are from Section 1.3.7 Care in the economy, but are repeated here in case you find them interesting and have not explored them.
Economy is Care - a short, award-winning animation about care in the economy. Difficulty level: easy
These three videos by renowned development economist Jayati Ghosh explain feminist perspectives on the economy. Because so much paid and unpaid care work is done by women and girls, care is fundamentally a feminist economics issue. Difficulty level: medium
Time to Care: Unpaid and underpaid care work and the global inequality crisis - A report from Oxfam International about undervalued care work and its link to inequality. Report is available in Arabic, English, French, Korean and Spanish. Difficulty level: medium.
Sources
Folbre, N. (2014). Who Cares? A feminist critique of the care economy. New York: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung New York Office.
Ghosh, J. (2022, September 5). Defining Care: Conceptualisations and Particularities. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/220905_Gosh_Article_1_final_online.pdf.
Ghosh, J. (2020, September 7). Recognising and Rewarding Care Work: The Roles of Public Policies. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. https://feps-europe.eu/publication/recognising-and-rewarding-care-work-the-role-of-public-policies/.
Institute of Development Studies, Oxfam (2015, June). Redistributing care work for gender equality and justice – a training curriculum. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/6600/Redistributing%20Care%20Work%20final.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
International Labor Organization. Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_633166.pdf.
Lorek, S., Power, K., and Parker, N. (2023). Economies that Dare to Care - Achieving social justice and preventing ecological breakdown by putting care at the heart of our societies. Hot or Cool Institute, Berlin. https://hotorcool.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Economies-that-Dare-to-Care.pdf
OECD (2019), Enabling Women’s Economic Empowerment: New Approaches to Unpaid Care Work in Developing Countries, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ec90d1b1-en.
Terminology
Link to Quizlet interactive flashcards and terminology games for Section 1.4.4 Caring economies
income: the ongoing money earned (flow) from work or investments
life expectancy: the average time a person can be expected to live
economic equality: equal distribution of income and opportunity between different groups in society
care: the act of providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, upkeep, and protection of someone or something
wealth: the total value (stock) of someone’s assets such as money, house, or investments
distributive: when something is widely or evenly among individuals
progressive tax: tax rates that increase as income or wealth increases
social cohesion: the extent to which people in society feel connected to one another and share common values
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
caring economy: the paid and unpaid work that support all forms of caregiving
economy: all the human-made systems that transfer and transform energy and matter to meet human needs
worldview: an all-inclusive outlook on the world held by an individual or group, and through which they make sense of reality and gain knowledge
investment: money spent for the enhancement of human or physical capabilities
provisioning institution: systems that manage the levels of energy and matter used to meet specific human needs
state: a system that provides essential public services, and also governs and regulates other economic institutions
system: a set of interdependent parts that organise to create a functional whole
food web: a complex set of feeding relationships between organisms, with multiple connections between them; shows the transfer and transformation of energy and matter through living organisms in an ecosystem
ecosystem: the interaction of groups of organisms with each other and their physical environment
resilient: able to recover after a disturbance
power: the ability to influence events or the behaviour of other people
stakeholder: a person who has an interest in or is impacted by some activity
democracy: a system of governing which depends on the will of the people
gender equity: when people of different genders are treated equally
culture: the beliefs, values, attitudes, behaviours and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next
indirect care: care that supports the living conditions that humans need to survive and thrive
direct care: care that addresses an immediate need, often involves physical contact between caregiver and care-receiver
infrastructure: large scale physical systems that a society needs to function (roads, railways, electricity networks, etc)
household: a system where people living together care for each other and do domestic work, often termed the 'core economy'
market: a system where people buy and sell goods and services for a price.
subsidy: a payment made by the state to a business or individual to encourage certain behaviour
norm: a social rule for accepted and expected behaviour, can be stated or unstated
wage: payment for work
pension: money paid under given conditions to a person following retirement or to surviving dependents
minimum wage: the lowest wage permitted by law or other agreement
universal basic income: financial support from the state in the form of recurring payments to everyone to meet basic needs
gender inequality: when people are not treated equally on the basis of their gender