Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2066266
Saakshi Joshi, Sanghamitra Roy, Seama Mowri, A. Bailey
ABSTRACT Over time, the transport sector has grown more cognisant of gender differences in planning and policy. Yet, extant literature on transport shows that challenges, such as sexual harassment of women still prevail. The value of this study is its contribution towards gender-responsive transport policies with a focus on women by highlighting (1) the spectrum of barriers that prevent women’s mobility across origin to destination journeys; and (2) construction of safety by using interventions and tools available to them, namely technology, women-only solutions, and infrastructural design. The findings are based on data from in-depth interviews with women participants in two Indian cities – Delhi and Kolkata. Drawing from our research, key policy suggestions include framing interventions in a rights-based manner, institutionalising gender-disaggregated data to inform interventions, and sensitising institutions such as the law enforcement on gender equity and women’s rights to the city. This research would be especially beneficial for regions in and beyond South Asia sharing similar contexts.
{"title":"Devising gender-responsive transport policies in South Asia","authors":"Saakshi Joshi, Sanghamitra Roy, Seama Mowri, A. Bailey","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2066266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2066266","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Over time, the transport sector has grown more cognisant of gender differences in planning and policy. Yet, extant literature on transport shows that challenges, such as sexual harassment of women still prevail. The value of this study is its contribution towards gender-responsive transport policies with a focus on women by highlighting (1) the spectrum of barriers that prevent women’s mobility across origin to destination journeys; and (2) construction of safety by using interventions and tools available to them, namely technology, women-only solutions, and infrastructural design. The findings are based on data from in-depth interviews with women participants in two Indian cities – Delhi and Kolkata. Drawing from our research, key policy suggestions include framing interventions in a rights-based manner, institutionalising gender-disaggregated data to inform interventions, and sensitising institutions such as the law enforcement on gender equity and women’s rights to the city. This research would be especially beneficial for regions in and beyond South Asia sharing similar contexts.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41338194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2071983
B. Chatterjee, Luciana Caffarelli, Anupama M Ranawana
ABSTRACT In both academic and practitioner work on women’s work, there is significant focus on women in the 18–55 age bracket. However, there remains a gap in the policy agenda on the impact of COVID-19 on older women in the 55+ age group, including those with disabilities. Christian Aid research and projects that have focused on Myanmar, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Nigeria provide anecdotal evidence with regards to this. This paper addresses what the authors argue to be a distinct gap in programmatic work regarding the economic and social labour of women over the age of 55. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, anecdotal evidence arose that noted how women of that age bracket were holding the significant role of breadwinner, as well as main caregiver, for their families. However, on further investigation, we noted that this is an issue that has, so far, received little attention in policy and programmatic work in the international development sector, and that data surrounding the issue are often very limited, and usually found in anecdotal formats. Noting gaps within the work of our own organisation, we reflect on how such a lacuna in policy and programmatic work limits the ‘liberating’ aspect of women’s economic empowerment. Using this reflection, and drawing from anecdotal evidence, as well as discussions with individuals working with older women, we suggest strategies towards recognising and rewarding such workers, and with this to add to literature arguing for a more diverse implementation of the women’s economic empowerment agenda.
{"title":"Grandmother, breadwinner, caregiver, widow, entrepreneur: COVID-19, older women, and challenges for the implementation of the women’s economic empowerment agenda","authors":"B. Chatterjee, Luciana Caffarelli, Anupama M Ranawana","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2071983","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2071983","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In both academic and practitioner work on women’s work, there is significant focus on women in the 18–55 age bracket. However, there remains a gap in the policy agenda on the impact of COVID-19 on older women in the 55+ age group, including those with disabilities. Christian Aid research and projects that have focused on Myanmar, Bangladesh, Ghana, and Nigeria provide anecdotal evidence with regards to this. This paper addresses what the authors argue to be a distinct gap in programmatic work regarding the economic and social labour of women over the age of 55. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, anecdotal evidence arose that noted how women of that age bracket were holding the significant role of breadwinner, as well as main caregiver, for their families. However, on further investigation, we noted that this is an issue that has, so far, received little attention in policy and programmatic work in the international development sector, and that data surrounding the issue are often very limited, and usually found in anecdotal formats. Noting gaps within the work of our own organisation, we reflect on how such a lacuna in policy and programmatic work limits the ‘liberating’ aspect of women’s economic empowerment. Using this reflection, and drawing from anecdotal evidence, as well as discussions with individuals working with older women, we suggest strategies towards recognising and rewarding such workers, and with this to add to literature arguing for a more diverse implementation of the women’s economic empowerment agenda.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47490979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2087990
Asanda Ngoasheng
Thembakazi ‘Roundy’ Peter, and her small container turned kitchen, became a lifeline for many hungry families in the rural community of Ntabankulu, Alfred Nzo District Municipality in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa and the kitchen is in an area with one of the highest rates of child malnutrition with child hunger rates at 48% between 2002 and 2019 and 44% of children living below the poverty line, a rate which increased rapidly during COVID-19 (Ellis 2022). COVID-19 and its accompanying lockdowns, travel bans, and other restrictions made a dire situation worse for the community of Ntabankulu. However, our intervention and the hard work of our COVID Hero ‘Roundy’, as she is affectionately known, helped this community see some rays of hope where there was hunger and desperation.
{"title":"Thembakazi ‘Roundy’ Peter – South African COVID Hero","authors":"Asanda Ngoasheng","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2087990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2087990","url":null,"abstract":"Thembakazi ‘Roundy’ Peter, and her small container turned kitchen, became a lifeline for many hungry families in the rural community of Ntabankulu, Alfred Nzo District Municipality in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa and the kitchen is in an area with one of the highest rates of child malnutrition with child hunger rates at 48% between 2002 and 2019 and 44% of children living below the poverty line, a rate which increased rapidly during COVID-19 (Ellis 2022). COVID-19 and its accompanying lockdowns, travel bans, and other restrictions made a dire situation worse for the community of Ntabankulu. However, our intervention and the hard work of our COVID Hero ‘Roundy’, as she is affectionately known, helped this community see some rays of hope where there was hunger and desperation.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42884532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2072020
Asmaa AbuMezied, M. Sawafta
ABSTRACT In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the COVID-19 pandemic hit communities much harder than elsewhere by adding another layer of vulnerability to their already precarious circumstances. Around the world, many pandemic recovery plans were devoid of gender-sensitivity, such as lacking explicit recognition of, or introduction of, substantive steps, supporting women’s quest for improved care services. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), where the pandemic coincided with other crises such as the occupation, an escalated military offensive (May 2021 in Gaza), heatwaves due to climate change, and a longstanding economic crisis, pandemic recovery is particularly challenging. This paper examines the channels through which Palestinian women’s multi-layered vulnerabilities continue to worsen despite the Palestinian Authority’s pandemic recovery measures. It does so by documenting the plethora of ways in which women’s wellbeing is hampered by critical factors such as informal modes of employment, patriarchal social norms, unpaid care responsibilities, and the longstanding absence of any social protections. The policy analysis reveals that there is widespread fragmentation in the design of pandemic recovery policies which attempt to address their highly complex and multi-layered challenges. Using the case of women in the OPT as an example, it proposes several policy recommendations to help address Palestinian women’s unique vulnerabilities even within their existing limitations.
{"title":"Analysing care policies and practices in times of austerity and conflict: the case of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)","authors":"Asmaa AbuMezied, M. Sawafta","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2072020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2072020","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In fragile and conflict-affected contexts, the COVID-19 pandemic hit communities much harder than elsewhere by adding another layer of vulnerability to their already precarious circumstances. Around the world, many pandemic recovery plans were devoid of gender-sensitivity, such as lacking explicit recognition of, or introduction of, substantive steps, supporting women’s quest for improved care services. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), where the pandemic coincided with other crises such as the occupation, an escalated military offensive (May 2021 in Gaza), heatwaves due to climate change, and a longstanding economic crisis, pandemic recovery is particularly challenging. This paper examines the channels through which Palestinian women’s multi-layered vulnerabilities continue to worsen despite the Palestinian Authority’s pandemic recovery measures. It does so by documenting the plethora of ways in which women’s wellbeing is hampered by critical factors such as informal modes of employment, patriarchal social norms, unpaid care responsibilities, and the longstanding absence of any social protections. The policy analysis reveals that there is widespread fragmentation in the design of pandemic recovery policies which attempt to address their highly complex and multi-layered challenges. Using the case of women in the OPT as an example, it proposes several policy recommendations to help address Palestinian women’s unique vulnerabilities even within their existing limitations.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48670955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-04DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2022.2066806
Francisco Bolaños Cámbara
ABSTRACT Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of migrant workers returned from their countries of employment to their families in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This article focuses on a specific population of migrant workers – Lao women returnee migrant workers in informal employment in Thailand – to explore how COVID-19 impacted their well-being and to what extent their home country’s social protection system supported them. It is based on more than 400 structured interviews with women migrant workers across nine provinces of Laos, who were working abroad in the informal economy and returned to Laos at the beginning of the pandemic. The research documented a rise in unemployment and income loss while aggravating gender inequalities in terms of the division of unpaid care work, discriminatory behaviours, and potential risks of gender-based violence. It identified several policy areas where systemic support for Lao women returnee migrant workers in informal employment should be prioritised: (1) extension of social protection, (2) national labour market strategy plan, (3) migration-sensitive national action plan, and (4) co-ordination between government and civil society organisations.
{"title":"COVID-19 and women migrant workers in informal employment: recommendations for strengthening social protection efforts in Lao People’s Democratic Republic","authors":"Francisco Bolaños Cámbara","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2022.2066806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2022.2066806","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of migrant workers returned from their countries of employment to their families in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This article focuses on a specific population of migrant workers – Lao women returnee migrant workers in informal employment in Thailand – to explore how COVID-19 impacted their well-being and to what extent their home country’s social protection system supported them. It is based on more than 400 structured interviews with women migrant workers across nine provinces of Laos, who were working abroad in the informal economy and returned to Laos at the beginning of the pandemic. The research documented a rise in unemployment and income loss while aggravating gender inequalities in terms of the division of unpaid care work, discriminatory behaviours, and potential risks of gender-based violence. It identified several policy areas where systemic support for Lao women returnee migrant workers in informal employment should be prioritised: (1) extension of social protection, (2) national labour market strategy plan, (3) migration-sensitive national action plan, and (4) co-ordination between government and civil society organisations.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41519122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-02DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2021.1981699
Amber Parkes
{"title":"The Care Crisis: What Caused It and How Can We End It?","authors":"Amber Parkes","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2021.1981699","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1981699","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45333817","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-02DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2021.1978726
H. Qazzaz
ABSTRACT For generations, feminists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have fought all types of oppression and discrimination. Joining and leading popular protests of the last decade or so in different MENA countries was part of their ongoing struggle to gain social justice, equality, and better representation in society. A feminist struggle has its own battles and distinct demands even within a national social justice agenda. The popular protests made feminists in the region realise more than ever the importance of having a trans-generational, intersectional, and diverse movement that is capable of continuing old battles and being strong in the face of new challenges. This article is based on reflective conversations with Hayat Mirshad, a feminist activist from Lebanon, during April 2021. These conversations showed that feminist struggles for social justice and equality in MENA have gained knowledge and experience through engaging with popular protests, using new communication tools and approaches, and not shying away from difficult conversations; the most important trends being those of embracing multiple forms of feminisms, working in an intersectional manner, maintaining financial autonomy, addressing the needs and priorities of multiple segments in society, and having new types of leadership that are more collective and participatory.
{"title":"Fighting all demons: feminist voices on popular protests in Lebanon and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region","authors":"H. Qazzaz","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2021.1978726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1978726","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT For generations, feminists in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have fought all types of oppression and discrimination. Joining and leading popular protests of the last decade or so in different MENA countries was part of their ongoing struggle to gain social justice, equality, and better representation in society. A feminist struggle has its own battles and distinct demands even within a national social justice agenda. The popular protests made feminists in the region realise more than ever the importance of having a trans-generational, intersectional, and diverse movement that is capable of continuing old battles and being strong in the face of new challenges. This article is based on reflective conversations with Hayat Mirshad, a feminist activist from Lebanon, during April 2021. These conversations showed that feminist struggles for social justice and equality in MENA have gained knowledge and experience through engaging with popular protests, using new communication tools and approaches, and not shying away from difficult conversations; the most important trends being those of embracing multiple forms of feminisms, working in an intersectional manner, maintaining financial autonomy, addressing the needs and priorities of multiple segments in society, and having new types of leadership that are more collective and participatory.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45571103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-02DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2021.1981702
D. Eade
speaking, feminists prefer to avoid a focus that depicts women primarily as victims, and not as actors. Also, in this book, it could be that the focus is somewhat skewed because while the term ‘adaptation’ (the process of pro-actively adjusting to climate change in the longer term) is regularly used, it is actually ‘coping’ – dealing with the actual climate-related circumstances in the present – that it describes. However, implicitly though, this publication does point to the need for climate adaptation strategies that are informed by nuanced, contextual, and intersectional research so that gender inequalities are not reinforced and extended, and so that vulnerability is recognised as socially and economically driven, and not an inherent human quality. Such strategies will contribute to enhancing resilience, an important lesson for (inter)national and local policies and actions.
{"title":"The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy","authors":"D. Eade","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2021.1981702","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1981702","url":null,"abstract":"speaking, feminists prefer to avoid a focus that depicts women primarily as victims, and not as actors. Also, in this book, it could be that the focus is somewhat skewed because while the term ‘adaptation’ (the process of pro-actively adjusting to climate change in the longer term) is regularly used, it is actually ‘coping’ – dealing with the actual climate-related circumstances in the present – that it describes. However, implicitly though, this publication does point to the need for climate adaptation strategies that are informed by nuanced, contextual, and intersectional research so that gender inequalities are not reinforced and extended, and so that vulnerability is recognised as socially and economically driven, and not an inherent human quality. Such strategies will contribute to enhancing resilience, an important lesson for (inter)national and local policies and actions.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45349283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-02DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2021.1978736
Ramona Vijeyarasa
ABSTRACT Few women have risen to the ranks of heads of state or government worldwide. The low numbers of female presidents and prime ministers in world history have left many untested assumptions about the impact of female leadership on the lives of fellow women. This article builds upon two bodies of work – studies of female presidencies, on the one hand, and on women’s movement-building, particularly in South and South-East Asia, on the other – to focus on the relationship between women leaders and women’s movements. Utilising case studies of national law reform during the presidencies of Corazon Aquino (1986–1992) and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010) in the Philippines and Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001–2004) in Indonesia, and drawing from key informant interviews in both countries, I argue that when women lead, women’s movements employ particular strategies to catalyse the passage of ‘women-friendly’ legislation. Examples of law reform illustrate the power of the female vote to sway presidential decision-making and the flow-on effect of a president who values the participation of fellow women in the government bureaucracy. Yet the relationship between female presidents and the success of movements is neither clear-cut nor linear. Women’s movements face opportunities and limitations under the leadership of women presidents, often having to compromise their agendas to achieve a united front.
{"title":"Women’s movements under women presidents: bringing a gender perspective to the legal system","authors":"Ramona Vijeyarasa","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2021.1978736","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1978736","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Few women have risen to the ranks of heads of state or government worldwide. The low numbers of female presidents and prime ministers in world history have left many untested assumptions about the impact of female leadership on the lives of fellow women. This article builds upon two bodies of work – studies of female presidencies, on the one hand, and on women’s movement-building, particularly in South and South-East Asia, on the other – to focus on the relationship between women leaders and women’s movements. Utilising case studies of national law reform during the presidencies of Corazon Aquino (1986–1992) and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001–2010) in the Philippines and Megawati Sukarnoputri (2001–2004) in Indonesia, and drawing from key informant interviews in both countries, I argue that when women lead, women’s movements employ particular strategies to catalyse the passage of ‘women-friendly’ legislation. Examples of law reform illustrate the power of the female vote to sway presidential decision-making and the flow-on effect of a president who values the participation of fellow women in the government bureaucracy. Yet the relationship between female presidents and the success of movements is neither clear-cut nor linear. Women’s movements face opportunities and limitations under the leadership of women presidents, often having to compromise their agendas to achieve a united front.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41883647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-09-02DOI: 10.1080/13552074.2021.1981700
F. Carré, M. Chen
is also divided into bite-sized sections, making it digestible for those less familiar with the topic. Aimed at a generalist audience, the book may have a UK focus but offers insights that stretch well beyond national borders. The majority of the book sets out the problem, with the first two-thirds focusing on the cause of the care crisis, and most of the last third on ‘fixes’ – which Emma Dowling adeptly demonstrates are not actually fixing the structural causes of the care crisis, but rather plastering over the symptoms. Nestled within the last ten pages of the conclusion are what Emma Dowling sees as the real solutions to achieve the structural transformation needed to address the care crisis. First and foremost, she explains, this requires improving the status of care: recognising its value to society, the economy, and humankind by investing more time, money, and attention to it. This final section on how to end the care crisis is especially needed to give hope to people, like me, who often feel despair at the current state of the care system. I would have appreciated more space dedicated to the solutions, including examples from around the world of where promising solutions have been successfully adopted. Hawaii’s Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID19 that centres care, New Zealand’s progressive ‘wellbeing budget’, or the influential US National Domestic Workers Alliance are rays of light amid the grey skies, and I would have valued the inclusion of these, or similar, inspiring examples in the book. Though ‘the shadow of COVID-19’ is mentioned on the book’s cover, most examples and statistics inside are pre-pandemic, specifically from the 2008 economic crisis and its fallout. This makes the content feel slightly dated. Even allowing for publishing timelines, not including more contemporary analysis of the effects of COVID-19 feels remiss, considering how issues of care, inequality, and neoliberalism have come to the fore during the pandemic. Emma Dowling’s nuanced critiques about the care crisis are even more relevant now, so not having her thoughts on the implications of COVID-19 feels like a missed opportunity. Nevertheless, the book achieves its goal of documenting the causes of the care crisis. In doing so, it provides a clarion call for us to build an economy that puts care at its centre and strives for wellbeing, social justice, and human rights for all. In Emma Dowling’s own words (p. 8), ‘the current care crisis ... does not demand a return to a better past, but rather a struggle for a better future’.
{"title":"Informal Women Workers in the Global South: Policies and Practices for the Formalisation of Women’s Employment in Developing Economies","authors":"F. Carré, M. Chen","doi":"10.1080/13552074.2021.1981700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1981700","url":null,"abstract":"is also divided into bite-sized sections, making it digestible for those less familiar with the topic. Aimed at a generalist audience, the book may have a UK focus but offers insights that stretch well beyond national borders. The majority of the book sets out the problem, with the first two-thirds focusing on the cause of the care crisis, and most of the last third on ‘fixes’ – which Emma Dowling adeptly demonstrates are not actually fixing the structural causes of the care crisis, but rather plastering over the symptoms. Nestled within the last ten pages of the conclusion are what Emma Dowling sees as the real solutions to achieve the structural transformation needed to address the care crisis. First and foremost, she explains, this requires improving the status of care: recognising its value to society, the economy, and humankind by investing more time, money, and attention to it. This final section on how to end the care crisis is especially needed to give hope to people, like me, who often feel despair at the current state of the care system. I would have appreciated more space dedicated to the solutions, including examples from around the world of where promising solutions have been successfully adopted. Hawaii’s Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID19 that centres care, New Zealand’s progressive ‘wellbeing budget’, or the influential US National Domestic Workers Alliance are rays of light amid the grey skies, and I would have valued the inclusion of these, or similar, inspiring examples in the book. Though ‘the shadow of COVID-19’ is mentioned on the book’s cover, most examples and statistics inside are pre-pandemic, specifically from the 2008 economic crisis and its fallout. This makes the content feel slightly dated. Even allowing for publishing timelines, not including more contemporary analysis of the effects of COVID-19 feels remiss, considering how issues of care, inequality, and neoliberalism have come to the fore during the pandemic. Emma Dowling’s nuanced critiques about the care crisis are even more relevant now, so not having her thoughts on the implications of COVID-19 feels like a missed opportunity. Nevertheless, the book achieves its goal of documenting the causes of the care crisis. In doing so, it provides a clarion call for us to build an economy that puts care at its centre and strives for wellbeing, social justice, and human rights for all. In Emma Dowling’s own words (p. 8), ‘the current care crisis ... does not demand a return to a better past, but rather a struggle for a better future’.","PeriodicalId":35882,"journal":{"name":"Gender and Development","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45800743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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