Ham & High: International Women’s Day: Kentish Town charity launches global survey for mothers

Frankie Lister-Fell0Published: 1:59 PM March 1, 2022

Global Women’s Strike at an Extinction Rebellion protest on October 12 2019. – Credit: Crossroads Audiovisual Collective

Ahead of International Women’s Day next Tuesday, a charity based at Kentish Town’s pioneering women’s centre, Crossroads, is launching a global survey asking: What do women and carers really want?

Global Women’s Strike (GWS), which is organising a webinar that will introduce the survey, want to bust the myth that policy makers assume childcare is all that women and unpaid carers need. 

GWS argues that women are rarely asked what they think about the caring work they do, the resources they have or don’t have, or their relationships with those they care for.

For the first time, unwaged carers in different countries and cultures, and of different genders, will be asked for their views on caring.

The webinar that launches this survey will hear from mothers and carers from a number of countries,  including Argentina, Burma, Canada, India, Ireland, Italy, Peru, Thailand, UK and US so far. 

GWS’s coordinator, Nina Lopez, who will be speaking at the webinar, helped set up GWS in 2000.ADVERTISING

She is also a key member of the organisation Wages for Housework, which set up Crossroads women’s centre in 1975. Back then, Crossroads was a squat at 129 Drummond Street near Euston station.

“Before 1972 work in the home, voluntary work, work in the field, wasn’t considered work at all until we (Wages for Housework) raised it as an issue,” Nina said.

“Since then, we have been campaigning for this work to be made visible and to be financially recognised, and for economic priorities to change so that the work of caring is what’s important to society.

“Mothers are the primary carers in every society but they’re not normally considered carers. Mothers are in their own special category because the work is unpaid. If your work has no value it’s badly thought of. It reflects badly on the people you take care of. What does that say to your children?”

The webinar will be available in English, Italian, Spanish and Thai.

The webinar will start at 1pm on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. You can register here: bit.ly/WMWMar8

https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/global-womens-strike-international-survey-and-webinar-8724206