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 impoverished and denied basic rights, including to the land we work.

Organising in self-help groups, women in Andhra Pradesh, India, are leading a massive community movement of natural farmers who regenerate the soil to grow healthy food and stop climate change. Scaling up internationally is crucial. A care income for all natural farmers would empower such movements, encourage all genders to contribute and to refuse work that pollutes. The subsidies now paid to poison soil, water and air, must be redirected to caring for people and the planet, starting in the Global South and working-class communities everywhere, especially Indigenous and other people of colour, who are hardest hit by the climate emergency. Find out more about our collaborations with Extinction Rebellion here.