{"id":3746,"date":"2024-05-07T10:10:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T09:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/?page_id=3746"},"modified":"2024-08-28T15:09:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T14:09:41","slug":"beyond-the-gendered-division-of-labour-changing-care","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/mancept-workshops\/list-of-panels-a-z-2024\/beyond-the-gendered-division-of-labour-changing-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Gendered Division of Labour: Changing Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ menu_id=”8″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” module_class=”main-navigation” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”dark” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ module_class=”header-image-section” _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|” custom_css_main_element=”padding-top:0px” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”header-image” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/257\/2022\/02\/Oxford-Roadcrop.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ border_color_all=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”0px|||” animation_direction=”left” use_border_color=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”||0px|” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”breadcrumbs-row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Breadcrumbs (do not remove)” module_class=”breadcrumbs” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” module_alignment=”left” custom_css_main_element=”border-bottom: 1px solid #ececed;” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\nMANCEPT<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n

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Beyond the Gendered Division of Labour: Changing Care<\/h1>\n

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Livia von Samson (Humboldt University of Berlin); Rebecca Clark (University of Oxford)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Women and queer people still take on most care labour both in and outside of the labour market. Yet the gendered division of labour by no means exhausts the care crisis Western societies face. This workshop thus seeks to explore feminist approaches to care, housework, and the family which point beyond distributional frameworks of justice. If the gendered division of labour were to be abolished, would anything objectionable remain about the current organisation of reproductive labour in Western societies?<\/p>\n

Reproductive labour, understood as comprising house- and care work, is variously organised within the triad of the family, the market, and the state. Their relationship is highly geographically and historically specific. The male-breadwinner nuclear family, once fought for by the (white) workers\u2019 movement, has become partially de-established. Dual wage-earner households are on the rise as it has become increasingly impossible to keep an unwaged housewife (or, for that matter, anyone) at home.<\/p>\n

Accompanying the increasing participation of women in the labour market, people in Western nations are choosing to marry and have children later, to have less children, to divorce more quickly, or to stay single. Gender norms are being challenged. Queer marriage has been legalised in man states. Polyamorous relationships are becoming more culturally accepted.<\/p>\n

One might argue that capitalism itself has thus abolished the family. Much reproductive work is passed down to low-wage and immigrant workers, overwhelmingly women, who clean, prepare (fast) food, and take care of children in- and outside of homes. In the process, the wealthy create global care chains, exacerbate domestic inequality, and increase their own dependency on the wage. As reproductive technology advances, this tendency extends to gestational labour, giving rise to a global market of commercial surrogacy.<\/p>\n

Yet the diversifications, (internal) democratizations, and commodification of reproductive labour has barely challenged the privatisation of reproductive labour in the nuclear family or its idealization.<\/p>\n

In light of these recent developments, and given that the family is not least the place where children are formed into future citizens, we want to ask the following pressing questions: What distinguishes care work from other kind of reproductive labour? What distinguishes labour traditionally performed in the private sphere from other kinds of labour? Does anything specific about care work make it the case that it should (not) be organised by the state, the market, or private individuals?<\/p>\n

Analysing and criticizing the status quo has often taken the form of rendering alternatives visible and feasible: communal care, family abolition, the transformation of domestic and public spaces. What are the perks and pitfalls of such alternatives to the nuclear family? How should the history of the privatisation of reproductive labour, and its entanglement with capitalism, inform the bringing about of social change?<\/p>\n

We aim to facilitate discussion on changing care structures and the private sphere and thus invite contributions with a particular focus on what lies beyond public policy: social structures, ideology,<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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and theories of social change. We are especially interested in learning from historical experiments of living and the organisation of care in non-Western societies. We invite submissions from both normative and historical perspectives. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:<\/p>\n

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