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Tinkering with Care and Citizenship in Times of Uncertainty. Contributions by Feminist Precarity Activists

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Gender, Race and Inclusive Citizenship

Abstract

Almost twenty years ago, feminist activists based in Spain searched for a way to move beyond labour-centred critiques of precarity. In the process, they coined the term ‘caretizenship’. By centering care as the articulator of belonging, these activists proposed a way to develop intersectional politics outside the exclusionary and racialised institution of citizenship. The COVID-19 scenario has put conventional notions of country-based citizenship to the test, proving such a citizenship framework insufficient to address international emergencies. I propose to reclaim this activist concept as a way to face the uncertainty provoked by current social transformations. These precarity movements were prophetic in their longing for other institutions and forms of belonging and socio-economic organization, calling for a care-based politics.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The first lexicon was developed by a chainworkers activist largely inspired by Italian immaterial labour theories (Foti 2004). Then, inspired by and in reaction to this first lexicon, a feminist precarity based project collected more terms: Precarias a la Deriva (2005).

  2. 2.

    EuroMayDay was a yearly demonstration networked across different cities (initially in Italy, then other parts of Europe and finally beyond) where different kinds of flexibilised, informal and precarious subjects joined for public protests and celebrations. It was a kind of ‘coming out’ party with an emphasis on visibilisation of different precarious conditions.

  3. 3.

    Not all Marxist feminist readings agree with this premise (Davis 1983).

  4. 4.

    The Wages for Housework Campaign is surprisingly still going and even growing in visibility, calling for a Global Women’s Strike (GWS) on March 8, demanding for payment for all caring work. In 2021, Women from over 60 countries around the world participated in the protest. Since 2000, the GWS network has continued the call for a living wage for women and other caregivers, and they have led or joined campaigns focused on pay equity, violence against women and the rights of sex workers, among other issues. Wages for Housework and Global Women’s Strike are an international grassroots network campaigning for recognition and payment for all caring work, in the home and outside. They argue that mothers and other care-givers are entitled to a living wage. Their campaign is for a caring economy where human beings and all life are central, not a means to an end, but the goal of finishing power relations of sex, race, class, income, nation, immigration status, city and countryside, age, disability, occupation, gender identity, North and South, etc. On April 9, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate emergency, the GWS and Women of Colour GWS networks released an open letter to governments amplifying their call for a care income. The idea of a care income expands the original demand for wages for housework to include all indispensable yet unpaid (or underpaid) work that involves caring for people and the planet, or caring for life. https://globalwomenstrike.net/ Accessed 11 October 2021.

  5. 5.

    The question of coloniality is explicitly engaged in the introduction of one of the edited volumes by Eskalera Karakola. Otras Inapropiables (hooks et al. 2004) is a collection of iconic texts by third-wave feminist authors. Coloniality is a philosophical and analytical paradigm, helpful in order to understand unspoken hierarchies born out of historical power relations (Mignolo and Escobar 2010). This book had a strong impact on several feminist initiatives in Spain, including Precarias a la Deriva.

  6. 6.

    This debate has been present in the Covid context, where politicians and society argue for economic reasons vs. health reasons. Beyond this framing, authors call for ‘politics of care’ (see Neely and Lopez 2020).

  7. 7.

    https://pumarejo.org/ Accessed 09 October 2021.

  8. 8.

    Tazzioli suggests using the historical genealogy of the “interracial motley crowd” traced by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker in The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (2000) studying its crucial role in urban and slave revolts in the eighteenth century.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Maribel Casas-Cortés

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  1. Maribel Casas-Cortés
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Correspondence to Maribel Casas-Cortés .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland

    Linda Supik

  2. Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland

    Malte Kleinschmidt

  3. Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Deutschland

    Radhika Natarajan

  4. Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland

    Tobias Neuburger

  5. Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Deutschland

    Catharina Peeck-Ho

  6. Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland

    Christiane Schröder

  7. Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Deutschland

    Deborah Sielert

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Casas-Cortés, M. (2022). Tinkering with Care and Citizenship in Times of Uncertainty. Contributions by Feminist Precarity Activists. In: Supik, L., et al. Gender, Race and Inclusive Citizenship. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-36391-8_3

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