Envisioning care as a common thread to global crises

Our main objectives were:

• To describe the specific impact that most crises have on women’s unpaid care workload, and how they exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities
• To examine how these adverse effects could be addressed or mitigated in policy responses, but also at the community/grassroots level
• To discuss how a care society, based on a strong care system and policies to recognise, redistribute and support the work of caring, could help prevent or mitigate these impacts and enhance women’s resilience, or even help address/prevent the crises themselves
• To highlight how our current economic systems contribute to crises and exacerbate inequalities, including those linked to care, and call for its transformation so that it first serves human rights, and the wellbeing of people and the planet, and puts care at the centre

Read the event’s highlights with key take-aways from each speaker

Recording of the event

Program

Welcome and introduction

•  Shahnaz Pakravan, Communications Manager, Make Mothers Matter – Introduction

• Adriana Quiñones, Head of Human Rights and Development and Deputy Head of UN Women Geneva Office (moderator)

Panel

• Yusra Qadir, Chief Programs and Advocacy Officer, Mothers Matter Canada (MMC): the impact of crises-induced migration on women’s ability to assume their care responsibilities, what a grassroots organisation like MMC does to support them, and how to make these issues visible to decision makers
• Lorena Aguilar, Executive Director, Kaschak Institute for Social Justice for Women and Girls, Binghamton University New York – author of UN Women’s Working Paper ‘The climate care nexus’ – Powerpoint presentation
• Iolanda Fresnillo, Policy and Advocacy Manager – Debt Justice, Eurodad: the impact of the debt and economic crises and related austerity policy on women’s unpaid care and domestic work – Powerpoint presentation
• Celine Charveriat, Founder and CEO, Pro(to)topia, a member for the Forum for caring societies: how caring societies embedded in ‘economies that dare to care’ could help address crises – Powerpoint presentation
• Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, author of the 2024 book ‘Poverty of Growth’: the urgent need to reshape our economy and transition to a post-growth development trajectory focused on the realisation of human rights and people and planetary wellbeing

We thank our speakers for ‘connecting the dots’ by sharing their expertise on the linkages between global crises, in particular climate change and the debt crisis, women’s unpaid care work, and our economic system.

This webinar was a side-event to the 2024 High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the annual UN meeting to assess the implementation of the 2030 agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals and to discuss the way forward. In 2024, the theme was “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises: the effective delivery of sustainable, resilient and innovative solutions”.

See also:

• Our invitation article, with background information, speakers’ bio and additional resources
• Our HLPF written statement on Addressing crises through a care lens