"This means that it takes men four years to do the same amount of care work that women do in just one year," says Cynthia Schönau, Equal Opportunities Officer for the Ludwigsburg district, drawing a vivid comparison. Women perform over 80 percent of professional care work. In the unpaid sector, the key figure for the difference in daily time spent is 52 percent. This difference is referred to as the "gender care gap".
"Do we still need an Equal Care Day in 2021?" asks the Care and Career Challenge Network, and answers the question with a clear: "Yes, definitely!" After more than a year of the pandemic with working from home and home schooling, new situations are emerging: care work and paid work, society and the economy, education and the future, deceleration and exhaustion, leisure time and contact restrictions have all increased over the past year. "Everyone has their own personal everyday life in these areas of tension," says Schönau. "The past year has shown us the importance of care work in a new light."
Care work in the home had to be expanded because professional care and education work was restricted and discontinued in institutions such as daycare centers, schools, universities and day clinics. "Families experienced this situation in different ways," says Sophia Clauss from the care support center in Ludwigsburg. For some, there was a welcome slowdown and they enjoyed the extra family time. Others, on the other hand, experienced additional stress and even exhaustion."
This also raises many questions: How and where will employment take place in the future? Who will take on care work at home? How will care work be perceived, valued and paid in the future? An analysis by the Bertelsmann Foundation from 2020 shows, for example, that the decision to have children leads to an average loss of lifetime earnings for women of around 40% with one child and up to almost 70% with three or more children. A bouquet of flowers on Mother's Day does not compensate for this, says Cynthia Schönau.
Equal Care Day provides a forum for all those involved in care work, be it in care or family, as well as the burden of everyday responsibility for household, family and relationship care ("mental load" - burden of responsibility) and gender equality. The forum offers the opportunity to get involved together, discuss causes and undesirable developments and develop solutions. The decision to hold Equal Care Day on 29 February, which only takes place every four years, is also symbolic of the fact that care work always takes place, but is usually hidden, taken for granted and not visible to the outside world, says Kristina Class from the RKH Kliniken Ludwigsburg care advice service.
According to the Federal Institute for Population Research, it is mainly women who work in "systemically relevant" sectors such as care, health, social work, education or retail. Despite their dedication, employees in these professions are often among the "working poor", for whom the income is barely enough to live on, according to Karin Lindenberger, Equal Opportunities Officer at the employment agency. A third of mothers in "systemically relevant" professions earn less than 1,100 euros net per month. Currently, a third of all families have major money worries due to the pandemic, adds Heike Walter, Equal Opportunities Officer at the district's job center.
"There is no time after the pandemic. Now we can take a look and consider how the challenge of care and work can be managed well in everyday personal life in the future without being overwhelmed. We can now work on the framework conditions to create time for care work. Now that care work has become much more visible, its importance as a building block for social cohesion and enabling regular employment must not be overlooked," says Judith Raupp, Equal Opportunities Officer for the City of Ludwigsburg, reflecting the assessment of the Care and Work Challenge network.
The Care and Work Challenge network links different specialist perspectives and target groups, provides impetus through presentations and reports on successful practical examples in networks. Care work is systemically relevant per se and deserves the respect and solidarity of all. The network brings together equal opportunities officers from the city and district of Ludwigsburg, equal opportunities officers from the employment agency and the Ludwigsburg Job Center, the Ludwigsburg care support point, the Ludwigsburg district's specialist advice service for the elderly and employees from the care advice service at RKH Klinikum Ludwigsburg.
Further information on the topic:
Dr. Johanna Possinger and Dörthe Gatermann discuss the option time model. A research team led by Karin Jurczyk and Ulrich Mückenberger created this model. They speak of "breathing life courses". What they mean is that phases of gainful employment are made compatible with phases of care work for children and the elderly, as well as phases of (further) education, voluntary work and self-care.
www.familienportal.kit.edu/downloads/Backlash.pdf
"Care-centered economics" is represented by Professor em. Dr. sc. oec. Uta Meier-Gräwe. Central to this is the demand to define care work as the basis for all economic activity. She calls for the division of gainful employment and care work to no longer be seen as a private matter, but to create framework conditions that enable gainful employment and care work to be performed without excessive demands.
www.bpb.de/apuz/care-arbeit-2020/317855/wirtschaft-neu-ausrichten-wege-in-eine-care-zentrierte-oekonomie
Together for care work in care and family
In times of the pandemic, the burden of care work in nursing and family (care work) has increased. This is why the Care and Career Challenge Network in the Ludwigsburg district is drawing attention to the special situation that, according to the Equal Care Day initiative, 80 percent of care work is still performed by women.
