Invisible care needs to be given greater recognition around much of the world
In any part of the world, the issue of providing care is an important one, whether to children, the elderly or to people with special needs. Who is doing the caring in communities so that families and societies can function at their optimum?
Last month, child care had a moment in the spotlight in the UK as the chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a £4 billion boost for child care and 30 hours of free child care for every child over the age of nine months – thereby extending more support to parents of pre-school children in order to relieve the financial burden on parents.
The announcement was welcomed by parents, carers and campaigners. It was, however, also received with cautious optimism by some. Care is so dutifully provided – particularly, but not entirely by women – that the scale of the crisis facing carers is often and too easily ignored, because even as the care work gets done, the toll can be immense on the carers.
The manner in which various kinds of care is considered in silos, rather than a connected social need that cuts across all socio-demographic groups, points to a general lack of societal value given to the function of providing care.
Unpaid care is so invisible that we don’t even acknowledge the fact that many families simply couldn’t go on without it. Society is able to function because care is given.
When governments and socio-political conversations discuss care, it is carved up into pots – child care, disability care, illness care and care of the elderly. But all of it is care, mostly all of it is undervalued and under-invested in; and the reality is that too often, all of it is seen as lowgrade work. If only we viewed those who do it as paid work as high quality professionals, and invested more in their skills, training and well-being, societies around the world would be healthier.
There was a moment during the lockdowns where a collective breath was taken in the hope that things would change: after all, the care work required, and the centrality of care workers became extremely visible. With nothing else to do and nowhere to go, we were all confronted with just how much care is needed and delivered. In the home, (male) policymakers suddenly realised how much women were doing. Without nurseries and child minders, the sheer scale of child care was front and centre.
Similarly, during the pandemic, with access to care homes restricted, and care workers no longer permitted to visit the elderly, families were required to step in. The demands and strain of elder care was foregrounded. And all of this also raised the point of the mental health toll on carers. It showed more broadly that care is invisible and unacknowledged, and carers often go unsupported. The problem is we don’t join the dots about how much care is required in society overall, and how it needs to be more valued.
According to the International Labour Organisation, around 16.4 billion hours are spent on unpaid care every day – that’s 2 billion people every day, working for eight hours without pay. This would amount to 15 per cent of GDP on average across countries that are a part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It also says that unpaid care contributes more in some economies than the manufacturing, commerce or transport sectors.
Seeing the economics of unpaid care up against other industries makes it clear the essential role care plays in society and the economy. But the conversation needs to be about more than just money.
The problem is people don’t join the dots about how much care is required in society, and so they undervalue it
While the world is constructed for the able-bodied, disability is everywhere, and at some point we will all be less able. Sometimes we are healthy and sometimes we are not, which means we can give care but we also receive it or might need to in the future. As our loved ones grow older, we have a human instinct to care for them, and where we can’t do it ourselves, we ensure they are cared for. This is the stuff of human life.
For those who do the care work in their personal lives for the ones they love, often without support, the invisible nature of the work needs to be brought to light. And they are often caring on multiple fronts. Someone who does the caring, will often be expected to look after more than one person, or just through the way of life, will end up covering several people’s needs.
At a societal level, we require a holistic view of care so that those who are providing it are recognised for their efforts and the amount of work they put in. At the moment, we talk about the recipients of care and their needs but we also need a second lens – so that the conversations and policies include carers and the support they need as well.