CONFERENCE – Caring for Elderly and Dependent People: Promoting Gender Equality and Social Justice

Social care for depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly is one of the major chal­lenges cur­rent­ly fac­ing our soci­eties. Accord­ing to demo­graph­ic esti­ma­tions, Euro­pean coun­tries will expe­ri­ence an increase in their elder­ly pop­u­la­tion in the near decades. On one hand, the increased longevi­ty rep­re­sents an his­tor­i­cal tri­umph; how­ev­er, on the oth­er it brings with it the respon­si­bil­i­ty to even greater lev­els of care. More­over, chron­ic dis­eases and func­tion­al diver­si­ty will also call for help and social support.

The start­ing point of the con­fer­ence is the urgent need to democ­ra­tize care to enable soci­eties to take on more and larg­er respon­si­bil­i­ties on a sus­tain­able basis. Care is still dis­pro­por­tion­al­ly pro­vid­ed by the fam­i­ly and women, as the pro­gres­sive and increas­ing role of men in child­care is not matched by a sim­i­lar lev­el of involve­ment in the care of depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly. Ways to enabling men to enter elder­ly and depen­dent care is an urgent yet under stud­ied issue.

The pur­pose of this con­fer­ence is to acknowl­edge the cur­rent chal­lenge of democ­ra­tis­ing care at many dif­fer­ent lev­els of the care organ­i­sa­tion. Par­tic­i­pants will reflect on the cur­rent dis­tri­b­u­tion of care work from an inter­sec­tion­al per­spec­tive and in dif­fer­ent con­texts like fam­i­lies, labour mar­ket (pri­vate for prof­it or not for prof­it, and pub­lic organ­i­sa­tions) and in com­mu­ni­ties; as well as in glob­al care chains. Democ­ra­tis­ing care involves social­iz­ing care respon­si­bil­i­ties, shar­ing care work between men and women, rec­og­niz­ing care and its cen­tral­i­ty for life sus­tain­abil­i­ty, dig­ni­fy­ing and con­sol­i­dat­ing its pro­fes­sion­al­iza­tion, and tak­ing into account the rights and demands of the peo­ple who are giv­ing and receiv­ing care. Spe­cial empha­sis will be placed on emerg­ing ways of redis­trib­ut­ing care among men and women, care recog­ni­tion (car­ing mas­culin­i­ties, pub­lic involve­ment, com­mu­ni­tar­i­an ini­tia­tives, labour dig­ni­fi­ca­tion, among oth­ers). The main pur­pose is to iden­ti­fy key ele­ments for pro­mot­ing gen­der jus­tice and social jus­tice in care.

We invite con­tri­bu­tions that reflect on these top­ics and analyse new data from dif­fer­ent con­texts and sit­u­a­tions in which depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly are cared for. The con­fer­ence val­ues (cross-) region­al, nation­al, and transna­tion­al perspectives.

Social care for depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly is one of the major chal­lenges cur­rent­ly fac­ing our soci­eties. Accord­ing to demo­graph­ic esti­ma­tions, Euro­pean coun­tries will expe­ri­ence an increase in their elder­ly pop­u­la­tion in the near decades. On one hand, the increased longevi­ty rep­re­sents an his­tor­i­cal tri­umph; how­ev­er, on the oth­er it brings with it the respon­si­bil­i­ty to even greater lev­els of care. More­over, chron­ic dis­eases and func­tion­al diver­si­ty will also call for help and social support.

The start­ing point of the con­fer­ence is the urgent need to democ­ra­tize care to enable soci­eties to take on more and larg­er respon­si­bil­i­ties on a sus­tain­able basis. Care is still dis­pro­por­tion­al­ly pro­vid­ed by the fam­i­ly and women, as the pro­gres­sive and increas­ing role of men in child­care is not matched by a sim­i­lar lev­el of involve­ment in the care of depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly. Ways to enabling men to enter elder­ly and depen­dent care is an urgent yet under stud­ied issue.

The pur­pose of this con­fer­ence is to acknowl­edge the cur­rent chal­lenge of democ­ra­tis­ing care at many dif­fer­ent lev­els of the care organ­i­sa­tion. Par­tic­i­pants will reflect on the cur­rent dis­tri­b­u­tion of care work from an inter­sec­tion­al per­spec­tive and in dif­fer­ent con­texts like fam­i­lies, labour mar­ket (pri­vate for prof­it or not for prof­it, and pub­lic organ­i­sa­tions) and in com­mu­ni­ties; as well as in glob­al care chains. Democ­ra­tis­ing care involves social­iz­ing care respon­si­bil­i­ties, shar­ing care work between men and women, rec­og­niz­ing care and its cen­tral­i­ty for life sus­tain­abil­i­ty, dig­ni­fy­ing and con­sol­i­dat­ing its pro­fes­sion­al­iza­tion, and tak­ing into account the rights and demands of the peo­ple who are giv­ing and receiv­ing care. Spe­cial empha­sis will be placed on emerg­ing ways of redis­trib­ut­ing care among men and women, care recog­ni­tion (car­ing mas­culin­i­ties, pub­lic involve­ment, com­mu­ni­tar­i­an ini­tia­tives, labour dig­ni­fi­ca­tion, among oth­ers). The main pur­pose is to iden­ti­fy key ele­ments for pro­mot­ing gen­der jus­tice and social jus­tice in care.

We invite con­tri­bu­tions that reflect on these top­ics and analyse new data from dif­fer­ent con­texts and sit­u­a­tions in which depen­dent peo­ple and the elder­ly are cared for. The con­fer­ence val­ues (cross-) region­al, nation­al, and transna­tion­al perspectives.