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13 - The Care Crisis

Covid-19, Labor Feminism, and Democracy

from Part III - Labor, Diversity, and Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

By
Deborah Dinner
Edited by
Angela B. Cornell  and
Mark Barenberg
Angela B. Cornell
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Mark Barenberg
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

The just organization of caregiving labor – in the workplace and in the home – is critical to democratic vitality. The Covid-19 pandemic rendered visible the failure of US law and policy to distribute care work fairly and to recognize its value. Lack of support for caregivers has jeopardized social reproduction and deepened gender, race, and class inequalities. The care crisis, however, was not an inevitability. From the New Deal through the close of the twentieth century, labor feminists pursued social supports for care. They advocated along three axes: public entitlements for care in the home, workplace regulation supportive of working caregivers, and the collective organization of paid care workers. The history of this advocacy helps to illuminate the path toward more robust forms of social citizenship.

Keywords

labor feminismsocial reproductioncare worklegal historyCovid-19
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 217 - 234
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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