We spoke to Kate Power from Hot of Cool, about her work leading a global initiative aiming to elevate care work to a central position in our societies and economies.
What is the work that P4NE has funded?
The importance of care work has gained visibility in recent years, partly due to dedicated research and practical initiatives, and partly due to crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic amplified the true extent to which paid and unpaid care work is foundational to health, security and wellbeing: all “essential jobs” were to a high degree caring ones, while e.g. investment banking, the best paid profession, was not considered essential in the same way.
Like nature, care work and care workers are essential to a functioning economy but largely de-valued and ignored. The current economic system would collapse without a healthy environment and without the unpaid care (mainly) provided by women.
Like nature, care work and care workers are essential to a functioning economy but largely de-valued and ignored.
Could care-centred societies be a holistic approach to address the multiple challenges we face? With escalating ecological breakdown and social pressures, society’s capacity to care will be essential for cushioning against the impacts and maintaining wellbeing. Limiting the ecological crisis and creating an equal society will require rapid and profound change, including a shift from consumerism to low-consumption lifestyles for everyone.
Could care-centred societies be a holistic approach to address the multiple challenges we face?
While the links between care, justice and ecological transition are increasingly recognized by scholars and social justice advocates, they are still not widely understood or actioned in mainstream movement building and policy advocacy, let alone by decision-makers. More work is needed to clarify the synergies and to create practical opportunities for forging common change agendas and platforms.
The project that P4NE has funded, alongside ClimateWorks Foundation, with operational support from Stanley Center for Peace and Security, is centred on this. Hot or Cool Institute is leading the project, together with our partners SERI, Climate Outreach, and Global Action Plan UK. We have a global Commission with 30 members, and two consultants: Meera Ghani and Margarita Olivera. We’re inviting an alliance for action on radically fair and sustainable care for people and planet: Care-centred transition to equitable, low-carbon societies.
How is it going? How are you making progress on the work?
The Commission is very engaged and enthusiastic, even though the work is difficult – and this is why we are confident that it is adding value. Together with the Commission we are diving deeply into important debates, such as how to “value” care work: should all care work be paid? Should we advocate for better pay and conditions for paid care workers, or should we be looking to provide care outside of the capitalist system altogether, for example through cooperatives and non-profit or commons-based provision? And what is the role of the state? In some countries there is campaigning for a stronger welfare state, whereas others note that the welfare state has been made possible by colonial exploitation. How might we redistribute paid work and unpaid work between men and women? And how can we promote paid work that reduces unsustainable production and consumption, while improving wellbeing and promoting equity?
Working globally is a challenge but also brings greater depth of understanding, as “care work” and “sustainable living” have very different meanings depending on geography and demographic.
There is still a lot that we don’t have enough knowledge about, for example, the emissions-reduction potential of care work; how to improve working conditions for informal workers with solutions that are outside of capitalism; how to engender an ethos of care. As one Commission member noted, care work can sometimes be joyful or meaningful, but “care becomes a burden in an uncaring world”.
Working globally is a challenge but also brings greater depth of understanding, as “care work” and “sustainable living” have very different meanings depending on geography and demographic.
How do you feel this work is contributing to shifting us towards a ‘new economy’?
It is often said that “we need systems change”: this project contributes to a broader understanding of what that system is – by insisting that we include unpaid care work and exploitation of workers in our analysis.
Our project builds on decades of global work by researchers, practitioners, and social movements advocating for valuing paid and unpaid care of people and nature. In particular, ecofeminism´s intellectual contribution and activism have drawn attention to the domination of women and the degradation of the environment as consequences of patriarchy and capitalism. Accordingly, women’s equality should not be achieved at the expense of worsening the environment, and neither should environmental improvements be gained at the expense of women. Ecofeminism calls for a reversal of current values, promoting care and cooperation over competition and domination, for the benefit of both society and environment.
It is often said that “we need systems change”: this project contributes to a broader understanding of what that system is – by insisting that we include unpaid care work and exploitation of workers in our analysis.
The project is at an early stage, but we are exploring how care-centred societies might support the transition to ways of living based on radically reduced material consumption, and fair redistribution of resources.
We are excited about:
- The depth of the potential benefits of care-centred initiatives. For example, commons-based co-housing projects can provide emissions reductions of over 40% while increasing opportunities for intergenerational caring.
- Bringing together unapologetically radical stakeholders. The project takes an anti-capitalist, eco-feminist, decolonial, degrowth approach.
- New synergies between activism and academia. Although research and practice in this field has been growing over decades, they have largely been separate approaches. Our project is convening experts and leaders from practice, research, policy, communications, and funders to create new potential for action.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities in the ‘new economy field’ that are yet to be realised?
Building acceptance of fair limits to consumption
Building non-profit and commons-based services to meet social and environmental needs is essential to provide an alternative to the current competitive, growth-centred economy. Yet building these caring alternatives outside of the capitalist system will not be sufficient to halt social and ecological destruction: stopping overconsumption in the richer parts of society is necessary for deep and rapid reductions in carbon emissions, biodiversity threats such as forest clearance, mining and extraction and other harmful practices needed to support an economy based on consumption growth. Policies, interventions and changes in social norms and practices must urgently change to include support for limits to consumption.
Strategic communication
This project’s strategic communications research is underway, reviewing relevant framing of care and sustainability from the Global South and Global North, and outlining necessary steps for a public engagement strategy around care-centred societies for equitable, low-carbon societies.
Key communications concerns highlighted so far:
– Avoiding the “climatisation of care”: Communicators need to be mindful of presenting care as a “new” issue. Feminist scholars have been highlighting the crisis of unpaid care work and the burden that it places on groups around the world. There is a need to avoid harmful “climate change bandwagoning”, which refers to purposefully expanding the definition of an issue to climate change for strategic reasons.
– Taking a decolonial and feminist approach: When communicating about the care and climate nexus, there is an additional risk of perpetuating the dominance of Global North narratives, and for power dynamics and strategic priorities to be exploited between Northern and Southern actors.
– Considering nuances around care and gender, for example, ensuring that we are not equating care work with women’s work, and decoupling care from female-dominated occupations. Although the majority of care work is undertaken by women, women are not a homogenous group. There are clear distinctions to be made between the different issues faced by women with multiple marginalisations when it comes to the care crisis.
Partnering with philanthropic funders
Radical transformation requires funding from outside the current system; some philanthropic funders have the freedom to explore solutions beyond capitalism. Funders can provide resources to support grassroots initiatives. Civic engagement is work and needs to be properly recognized as such, especially if it is unpaid. Funders can act as mobilisers of change, through incubating ideas and supporting experimentation, as well as showcasing possibilities for deep and rapid change.
Civic engagement is work and needs to be properly recognized as such, especially if it is unpaid.
What could readers of our newsletter do to support your work?
Get in touch if you would like an invite to the launch of the Commission’s report on June 28th: K.power@hotorcool.org
Our first workshop for funders interested in Care-Centred societies will be on May 31st at 17.00 CEST. So please introduce us to new funders who might be curious about this. We need co-funders for the next stage of our own work, and we are running workshops with funders to introduce them to the field, as well as a range of projects that promote care-centred economies.
And let us know about potential Alliance members: CSOs, community organisations, researchers, policy makers anywhere in the world who work on care+climate+justice. The Alliance will be launching in the early autumn.
Kate Power
Kate is the Development Director at Hot or Coll. She is an expert in sustainable consumption and behaviour change, with a deep commitment to promoting ways of living and organizing societies that are truly sustainable.