Care

Caregiving is essential work, whether it takes place within the family, in the community, or in the paid workforce. Children, elders, and those who are sick, disabled, or otherwise unable to care for themselves need care to survive and thrive. Throughout the world, women do the vast majority of caregiving—all the hard, intimate, gritty, daily, and often invisible work that individuals and societies couldn’t survive without. Because caregiving is seen as “women’s work,” societies devalue it, whether women do it for free in the home or for low wages in the workforce.