Issue 528 of New Internationalist

November-December 2020

A caring economy: What would it take?

Care is what keeps us all going. It’s skilled, emotional, exhausting, rewarding work that props up our lives, households, communities and economies. Yet care – work disproportionately carried out by women and then most marginalized, is also massively undervalued and ignored. While growth and profit remain the priority of our economies, care of people and the planet are relegated to the sidelines.

This edition argues that even caregivers – whether they be parents or nurses, cleaners or neighbours – have their limits. With the world in the midst of a deepening crisis of care, accelerated by Covid-19, what would it mean to have an economy that valued them and the people they care for?