Event: Women's and Gender Studies International Conference: The Permutations of 'Caring' On the individual, the family, and societies
Date: 19 - 20 September 2024
Time: 09:00 - 13:00
Venue: Aula Prima, University of Malta, Valletta Campus
Care work involves both paid and unpaid work. It also consists of two overlapping activities: direct, personal and relational care activities, and indirect care activities, which can involve meal planning, cooking and cleaning.
Unpaid care work is care work provided without a monetary reward for carers. Unpaid care is often not considered as work. This type of work is rarely taken into consideration when GDP or GNP is being calculated by governments. Unfortunately, this type of work has some bearing on the economic realities of those who undertake this kind of work. When the necessary culture and policies are not in place, women tend to bear the brunt of this work.
Unpaid care work is a key factor in determining whether women enter into and stay in employment as well as the quality of jobs they perform. While care work can be rewarding, it also hampers the economic opportunities and well-being of unpaid carers, and diminishes their overall enjoyment when it comes to their human rights. Their financial wellbeing, in turn, depends on their link and relationship with other working adults or the state, leading to a derived rather than accrued rights to social benefits.
Paid ‘care’ work on the other hand is performed for pay or profit. Care work comprises a wide range of personal service workers, and is often used to refer to feminised occupations, such as nursing, teaching, doctors, social work and care workers. Domestic workers, who provide both direct and indirect care in households, are also part of the care workforce. Most paid care workers are women, frequently migrants working in the formal and informal economy under poor conditions and for low pay.
More information regarding the keynote speakers, together with their photos, can be found online.
Organised by the Department of Gender and Sexualities