Care Policies, Carers and the Ethics of Care

1. Care Policies, Carers and the Ethics of Care Fiona Williams Emeritus Professor of Social Policy University of Leeds, and University of New South Wales, Australia

2. Structure • Competing interpretations of care‘from below’ – from groups organising around care needs(social movements, grass roots’ organisations, NGOs) • and ‘from above’- national and supranational governance • Political ethics of care • Care Policy strategies

3. How do we conceptualise care? • The object of claims-making and policy-intervention for time, finances and services • Aset of relations • A moral orientation

4. Competing interpretations of care‘from below’ and ‘from above’ • An issue for social justice (social movements, grass roots’ organisations, NGOs) • An issue for social investment (governance)

5. Political context since 1960s 1960s and 1970s: child care to enable women to exercise the right to work etc 1980s and 1990s: neo-liberalism’s dominance 2000 -... tempering and taming of neo-liberalism…towards emerging convergence in social investment politics

6. Claims makers • Women’s organisations / child care advocates • Disability movements • Unpaid carers’ organisations • Trade unions • Advocates and organisations for migrant care workers • Recognition • Representation • Rights • Redistribution

7. Claims for the Recognition, Representation, Rights and Redistribution of Care RECOGNITION and REPRESENTATION • Visibility • Voice • Valuing care

8. RIGHTS • Rights as carers, earners and citizens • Rights to social inclusion • Social rights to quality care services and enabling environment • Rights to social protection and flexible working, to decent wage, • Rights to residency, family reunion, regularized work, freedom from discrimination • Human and civil rights

9. REDISTRIBUTION • From families to states • From mothers to fathers • From providers to users • Redistribution of time and space • Transnational redistribution of care labour

10. Social Investment • human capital • labour market activation, anti-poverty measures, education and child care • target particular groups • partnership + public private mix in welfare provision for services that represent good value for money • competitiveness in the global economy

11. Overlaps and tensions • Rights of mothers to work • But in precarious employment? • Rights of disabled people to work • But less eligibility to benefits • Care services to cash payment • Voice or choice? • Affordable care work or exploited migrant labour? • What of those with no productive potential?

12. Carers UK • working in partnership • productivity argument • cost effective community care

13. Ethics of Care • Attentiveness • Responsibility • Competence • Responsiveness • ‘Care is not a parochial concern of women, a type of secondary moral question, or the work of the least well off in society. Care is a central concern of human life’ (Tronto, 1993, p.180)

14. Political Ethics of Care • Care is universal • Care sustains and repairs society • Care is part of citizenship • Care support is cumulative • It promotes social solidarity and well being • It is an investment • Care promotes interdependence • Time to care for ourselves, others, locally and globally

15. Social Platform’s Recommendations on Care • ‘Our starting point is that care is a human right: the right to care and to be cared for is a fundamental part of our lives as everyone is a care giver or care receiver at some point and potentially at multiple stages throughout life. • Care […] promotes social solidarity, and social cohesion and inclusion which generate well being for all. Well being in its turn enhances mental and physical health, quality of life, productivity and the sustainability of our societies...’ (ESP, 2011:1)

16. ‘Therefore our vision of care[ …] encompasses policies and practices that simultaneously: • ensure respect of the fundamental rights of care users, and promote social inclusion and quality of life for all • ensure respect of the fundamental rights of caregivers and allow them to benefit from an adequate balance between care, work and private life, sharing care responsibilities in an equal way between women and men and among generations • invest in quality care services to ensure the accessibility, affordability and availability of care services for all across Europe and • promote decent working conditions and quality employment for all care workers.’(ESP 2100:1)

17. Voice • ‘a caring society in which high quality, personalized care empowers people, facilitating, in turn, their involvement in society’