A care income for all caring work for people and planet
Caring for others is the foundation of every society. Yet this work, done mostly by women, in the home, on the land and in the community, is devalued, unwaged or low waged, leading to poverty, dependence and endless work. The pandemic and above all the climate emergency have forced us to recognise that caring for and protecting people and the natural world must become the universal priority. Read more here about our Caring for the Land campaign.
Regenerating the land, the air and the seas is essential to stopping and reversing ecological destruction and climate change. But those in charge of the world, their corporations and their weapons, are hijacking our present and our future in their insane pursuit of profit and power. They are endangering our very survival, starting with those of us in the Global South and in Indigenous and working-class communities, often immigrant and/or of colour, everywhere.
Enough wealth has been accumulated to pay for the reproduction of life rather than subsidise the endless growth of destructive and polluting industries. As part of a dynamic change of direction we demand a guaranteed income for all – of all genders and identities, beginning with mothers, Indigenous peoples and natural farmers – who do the work of:
- caring for people of every age and condition;
- protecting and regenerating the land and the water from poisonous chemicals which ruin the soil, the health of those who work it, the nutritional value of the food, and the climate;
- defending human rights and the natural world, risking their lives;
- surviving and resisting the climate change we did not cause which, following centuries of imperialist plunder, is endangering lives and livelihoods in the Global South, forcing millions to leave their home and all they hold dear.
Some key facts:
- Women and girls do more than three-quarters of all unpaid care work – a total of 12.5 billion hours a day. The market values unwaged work at $10.8 trillion but never suggests that those who do it should get any of it.Unpaid family carers (overwhelming women but also children) save governments billions (£193 billion per year in the UK alone).
- Women are the pillars of subsistence farming and agroecology. Women produce most of the food consumed locally, making small farms central to poverty reduction, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Small farms are more productive per acre than large farms and better for ecosystem and biodiversity conservation. (Inclusion Pays: The Returns on Investing in Women in Agriculture, 2022)
- To incentivize restoration, governments need to step in to help pay people for the services provided by their land. When restoration doesn’t pay, it doesn’t happen. (Repurposing Agricultural Subsidies to Restore Degraded Farmland and Grow Rural Prosperity,2021)
- In Andhra Pradesh, India, a non-profit organization, Rythu Sahikara Samstha, established by the state government, is implementing chemical free Community Managed Natural Farming, working in village clusters through women’s self-help groups. They intend for all six million farmers to implement CMNF by 2024. Chief adviser, Dr Vijay Kumar, urges that farmers transforming the land in this way should not be entirely dependent on the market – they should be entitled to an income for their work for all humanity.
- Indigenous peoples who are less than 5% of the human population, support around 80% of the planet’s biodiversity.
- At least 1,733 land and environmental defenders have been murdered over the last decade, the vast majority with impunity. Over 45 per cent of deadly attacks worldwide are linked to extractive industries.
- Globally governments spend $1.8 trillion a year subsidising the most polluting industries—fossil fuels, agriculture, forestry, water, construction, transport, and marine capture fisheries. A much larger $5.9 trillion includeshidden subsidy of not paying for the deaths they cause and global warming.
- Global agricultural subsidies amount to $540 billion a year (expected to climb to $1.8tr by 2030). 87% of these subsidies are harmful to people and the environment.
- The US military, the world’s largest single polluter, creates 750,000 tons of toxic waste every year. 160 million people were killed in military conflict in the 20th century, more than 2m already in this century, the majority women, children and people of colour. Currently, between 38 and 60 million people are war refugees, half of whom are children while the arms industry is thriving.

Our Time Is Now: Sex, Race, Class and Caring for People & Planet by Selma James
Selma James makes the powerful argument that the climate justice movement can draw on all the movements’ people have formed to refuse their particular exploitation, to destroy the capitalist hierarchy that is destroying the world. Our time is now.

What do Mothers and Caregivers want? Fill in the survey here...
There is an assumption that childcare or elder care is all women need. But, we are never asked what we think about how we spend our time and the resources we have / don't have. This survey is being circulated in different countries and languages. Click here to join the discussion or click on the button below.
What do Mothers and Caregivers want? The launch and webinar, March 2022.
There is an assumption that childcare or elder care is all women need. But, we are never asked what we think about how we spend our time and the resources we have / don't have. This survey is being circulated in different countries and languages. Click here to join the discussion or click on the button below.
The Value of Caregiving
Women in Dialogue facilitate an international discussion : From Coronavirus to Beyond: VALUING CAREGIVING. The workshop we planned for the 64th UN Commission on the Status of Women has even more urgency now as the global pandemic has exposed how central caregiving is to life and survival, and how much caregivers are relied on for services governments are not providing. But where is the relief package for caregivers?
Workshop: How Nature Regulates the Climate & How Natural Farming Can Help
FRIDAY JUNE 9, 10am-4pm (EDT) Crossroads Women’s Center, 5011 Wayne Ave Philadelphia, PA 19144 and by Zoom With: Didi Pershouse, educator, author and soil sponge strategist committed to building healthy communities both above and below ground. Ms Pershouse’s publications include The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities…
Read MorePress Announcement: International and Community Gathering in Philadelphia, June 9-11
End Women’s Poverty: A Care Income, A Movement Whose Time Has Come What: International and Community Gathering: End Women’s Poverty – A Guaranteed Care Income for All Caregivers of People & PlanetWhen: June 9-11, 2023Where: Crossroads Women’s Center, 5011 Wayne Ave, Philadelphia PA 19144, and online The Global Women’s Strike and the new Crossroads Women’s…
Read MoreTaking Agroecology to scale: Learning from the experiences of Natural Farming in India
Learning from the experiences of Natural Farming in India, this new publication has been compiled by the Alliance for food sovereignty in Africa. Download a copy of it for free here below.
Read MoreEvent this Friday – Join the Women’s Speak Out at XR’s The Big One
Friday 21 April, 1pm, Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA. XR’s The Big One – four days of actions 21-24 April to bring together 100,000 people around Parliament to get this government to act on the climate emergency. On Friday – “Unite to Survive” day – diverse networks of mothers, grandmothers, other carers and people with disabilities will…
Read MoreSelma James speaks at Oxford Real Farming Conference: A Care Income to Protect the Land, the People and the Natural World
Speakers: Selma James, Swati Renduchintala, Pranom Somwong, Dee Woods, Jyoti Fernandez. As mothers, carers, farmers/farm workers, land and human rights’ defenders, women do most of the work of feeding (starting with breastfeeding) and protecting families and communities, the soil and the environment. For doing this fundamental caring work of society, unwaged and low-waged, we are…
Read MoreCare Income leaflet for 2023 Oxford Real Farming Conference
Campaigning for an income for all who care for people, the soil and the natural world can: • Strengthen the movement against environmental destruction & global warming • Address poverty & other injustice suffered by those, overwhelmingly women, who do this work unwaged or low-waged • Redirect economic & social priorities internationally towards nourishing food (starting with breastfeeding), clean water & air, and the care & protection of all life • Encourage all genders & identities to commit to this lifesaving life-enhancing work.
Read MoreDraft international petition: A care income for all caring work for people and planet
Caring for others is the foundation of every society. Yet this work, done mostly by women, in the home, on the land and in the community, is devalued, unwaged or low waged, leading to poverty, dependence and endless work. The pandemic and above all the climate emergency have forced us to recognise that caring for and protecting people and the natural world must become the universal priority.
Read MoreNadja News: Ten times women’s unpaid care work was recognised in history.
Cooking, cleaning, gathering food and water, and caring for children and the elderly are vital for families and societies. Yet this work, performed by women 75% of the time, has seldom been given the recognition it deserves, creating huge inequality around the world. Here are ten times unpaid care work has been recognised for what it…
Read MoreWhat Mothers and Other Caregivers Want: Fill in the International Survey.
We write to bring to your attention our What do mothers and caregivers want? international survey. We urge you to fill it in and/or circulate it among family, friends and social networks if you haven’t already. The survey is being circulated in different countries and four languages so far – English, Italian, Spanish and Thai – and has…
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