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? The international survey
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.
In a survey of 1065 respondents from 50 countries, an overwhelming 84% said that caring deserves a care income. They wanted more time with their family, and to work outside the home part-time rather than full-time. While the responses summarized in the report reflect only the views of those who took part, they provide illustrative testimonials on crucial topics. Read the report in full here.
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?
Event: London Mining Network on Just Transition
We are speaking at this conference, Saturday 30 November 2.45pm, Bernie Grant Centre, Tottenham N15 4RX. Women are central to a Just Transition, resisting mining, corporate greed, and the state/military interests that back them. GWS will talk about what we’ve learned working with women in farming and mining communities in Thailand, and in India.
Read MoreWhy we support Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Farming: a grassroots rebuttal by Nina López and Selma James
In June 2024, the Global Women’s Strike was invited to speak at two sessions on A Care Income to Protect the Land, the People and the Natural World at the International Degrowth Conference in Pontevedra. At the second session, Swati Renduchintala presented via zoom on Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) and the women’s Self-Help…
Read MoreEvent: London Land Justice Fair, 21 July, 12-6pm
We’ll be running a stall, and a workshop on land use in the women-led natural farming movement in Andhra Pradesh, India. All welcome!
Read MoreWebinar : What Mothers and Other Caregivers Want – findings from international survey, May 11
From March 2022 to May 2023, this survey asked 1065 mothers and other caregivers from different generations and in different countries what they want and need. Assumptions are always being made about this, but in fact caregivers are rarely directly asked about how we spend our time, the resources we have or don’t have, or…
Read MoreWebinar: Compensating Care: How U.S. Policy Can Support Unpaid Family Caregivers
TODAY, May 2 – join us for this pathbreaking one hour webinar on Compensating Care: How U.S. Policy Can Support Unpaid Family Caregivers, Thursday, May 2, 2-3pm Eastern Time, 11am-12noon Pacific Time – It is a joint event by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), Global Women’s Strike & Women of Color/GWS.…
Read MoreIrish Referendum results: not a return to the Ireland of the past, but the rejection of a government which denies its responsibilities.
On 8 March, a government referendum proposed to change the Irish Constitution by extending the definition of the family (Amendment 39) and replacing Article 41.2 on the work of mothers in the home with wording that diminished the State’s obligation to support caring in the home and outside (Amendment 40). The government suffered a comprehensive…
Read MoreCongress: Don’t exclude the most vulnerable children from the Child Tax Credit!
URGENT! Please ask Congressional leadership and your reps to make critical improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024, the bi-partisan bill now under consideration. ⚡ Also call and tweet your members of Congress and Congressional leadership, see below While there are some positive…
Read MoreTweets: Congress, don’t exclude the most vulnerable children from the Child Tax Credit!
URGENT: Tax Relief for American Families & Workers Act is being voted on as soon as week of Jan 29. Tell Congressional leaders & your reps to strengthen it to include covering the poorest children in #ChildTaxCredit. ✍ https://actionnetwork.org/letters/congress-dont-exclude-the-most-vulnerable-children-from-the-child-tax-credit/ URGENT! @RepJeffries @SpeakerJohnson @SenSchumer @LeaderMcConnell don’t leave the poorest, most vulnerable children out of #ChildTaxCredit. The…
Read MoreThe compromise Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 leaves out the most impoverished families while giving big tax benefits to corporations
We are mothers, grandmothers and other unpaid family caregivers who have been pressing for reinstatement of the expanded child tax credit (CTC) and for our caregiving work to be valued and supported. We recognize and appreciate the effort that went into this bi-partisan proposal, but it must not exclude the most impoverished children. Representative DeLauro,…
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