Equal Care Day
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Equal Care Day is an annual event initiated in Germany that is designed to boost awareness of the lack of appreciation and unfair distribution of care work in society. Its placement on February 29, which as Leap Day only occurs every four years, is meant to reflect Germany’s 4:1 ratio (women: men) in the gender distribution of paid care workers.[1], and also to signify that care work is considered largely "invisible work" that often goes unnoticed and unpaid. The event’s aim is to promote a more equal distribution of the tasks of caring and nursing among genders, to elevate care work in general, and to improve its legal and sociopolitical standing. Equal Care Day is held on March 1 during non-leap years.
The Equal Care Day initiative is a member of Care Revolution, a network of 80 organizations advocating for the elevation of care work throughout Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
History[edit]
Equal Care Day was founded in 2016 in Bonn, Germany by author/journalists Almut Schnerring and Sascha Verlan. Since 2018, klische*esc e.V., a German non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness of and eliminating unconscious gender bias, has held an annual Equal Care Day event in Bonn. In 2018, the organizers held a nationwide letter campaign, which formulated wishes and thoughts on the care situation in letters to children of future generations. In 2019 Equal Care Day was supported by the (German) Federal Agency for Civic Education.
In 2020, additional Equal Care Day events were held in over 20 cities across Germany.[2] At the central two-day conference in Bonn that year, a manifesto of demands and possible solutions regarding the care situation in Germany was developed (see below). This was done through a series of eight workshops that mapped care work from "cradle to grave": 1. birth and delivery, 2. family work and childrearing, 3. mental load and self-care, 4. health care and nursing, 5. basic income and care accounts, 6. caring companies, 7. care and the environment, and 8. care for the elderly and end-of-life care. [3]
In 2021, about 40 Equal Care Day events were held, most of them online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 Equal Care Day also expanded internationally, with events being held in Turkey, Italy, Argentina, and Luxembourg.[4] By drawing attention to the importance of nursing and other care professions, and because it forced many young families to suddenly juggle working from home with homeschooling their children, the pandemic led to increased scrutiny of both the division of and the undervaluation of care work in society in general.[5][6]
In late 2021, Equal Care Day organizers developed a Christmas card that includes a long to-do list for families who celebrate the holiday (buy gifts, prepare an Advent calendar, plan social events, etc.) [7] The card is meant to draw attention to and stimulate discussion of who in the family assumes the many often unacknowledged tasks associated with holiday celebrations.
Equal Care Manifesto[edit]
On May 20, 2020, Equal Care Day organizers published The Equal Care Manifesto[8], which calls for the recognition of care work as a basic pillar of society.
The manifesto lists 18 demands which, in addition to better pay and advancement opportunities in care professions and a fair distribution of unpaid care work between the sexes, include adding unpaid care work to calculations of national GDP, equal pay between men and women, and support for care workers in developing countries.
As of November 2021, the Mainfesto has over 2,290 signatories, including representatives from political parties, associations, aid organizations, literature, journalism, science, business, music and the arts. For a detailed list of supporters, see the Equal Care Day article in German Wikipedia.
Equal Pay Day, Equal Care Day, and the Gender Care Gap[edit]
Equal Care Day was partially inspired by Equal Pay Day, an event designed to create awareness of the gender pay gap. In a similar way, Equal Care Day seeks to publicize the gender care gap, a figure first calculated in 2017 by the German Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in its Second Gender Equality Report.[9]
The gender care gap represents the difference in time spent on unpaid care work between men and women in proportion to the time spent by men on unpaid care work. Based on data from a 2012/13 time use survey conducted by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, Germany’s gender care gap is 52.4%.[10] That means, on a daily basis, women in Germany perform 52.4% more unpaid care work than men do. This is equivalent to one hour and 27 minutes more care work each day.
Mental Load and Global Care Chain[edit]
Equal Care Day also aims to draw attention to the issues of mental load and the global care chain.
In the German-speaking world, mental load primarily refers to the stress caused by organizing everyday tasks that are generally not considered worth mentioning and are therefore largely invisible. The term is used primarily to refer to the uneven distribution of unpaid care work and the burden associated with it in personal relationships and social structures. The Equal Care Day organization has produced and made available a test to measure mental load.
Reception[edit]
Media such as Emma,[11] Taz,[12] Süddeutsche Zeitung[13] and Die Zeit[14] reported on the introduction of Equal Care Day in 2016, and since then, Equal Care Day has become the basis for events,[15] television reports,[16][17] social media actions[18] and political calls to action.[19][20][21] Under the hashtag #equalcareday, Tweets[22] and blogposts on the topic have been made since 2016.
In 2021, the event was mentioned in the German press over 20 times[23], including Zeit online[24], the Leipziger Zeitung[25], and radio fm4[26]
Literature[edit]
- Almut Schnerring, Sascha Verlan: Equal Care: Über Fürsorge und Gesellschaft. Verbrecher, Berlin 2020, ISBN 978-3-95732-427-6 Search this book on
.. - Helma Lutz: Die Hinterbühne der Care-Arbeit: Transnationale Perspektiven auf Care-Migration im geteilten Europa. Beltz, Weinheim 2018, ISBN 978-3-7799-3921-4 Search this book on ..
References[edit]
- ↑ "Arbeitsmarktsituation im Pflegebereich" (PDF). Section 2.1, page 6. Bundesagentur für Arbeit. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ↑ "Veranstaltungsübersicht". Internetseite das Equal Care Day (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Equal Care Day Workshops". Internetseite das Equal Care Day (in Deutsch).
- ↑ "Veranstaltungen 2021". Equal Care Day website. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ↑ "Rollen und Aufgabenverteilung bei Frauen und Männern in Corona-Zeiten". Bertelsmann Stiftung. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
- ↑ "Coronavirus & Care: How the Coronavirus Crisis Affected Fathers' Involvement in Germany" (PDF). German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). Retrieved 14 May 2021.
- ↑ "Mental Load at Christmas". Equal Care Day website. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ↑ Day, Equal Care (March 29, 2020). "The Equal Care Manifesto".
- ↑ "Second Gender Equality Report" (PDF). page 11. Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ↑ "Zeitverwendungserhebung - Aktivitäten in Stunden und Minuten für ausgewählte Personengruppen - 2012/2013". Destatis. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ↑ Good idea: Equal Care Day, Emma February 17, 2016
- ↑ Four years of reworking, gentlemen! by Simone Schmollack, taz February 28, 2016
- ↑ 2882291 A Leap Day for Care Work by Sarah Schmidt, Süddeutsche, February 29, 2016
- ↑ A Day for Equality in the Household by Tina Groll, Zeit online February 1, 2016
- ↑ You call it love, we call it unpaid work. Evening event for Equal Care Day at the Museum of Modern Art, February 28, 2017, Frankfurt a. M.
- ↑ de/mediathek/video/sendungen/frau-tv/video-equal-care-day--briefe-an-die-naechste-generation-100.html Mediathek Equal Care Day - Letters to the Next Generation, WDR, frautv, March 1, 2018 until 3-1-2019)
- ↑ sat.de/wissen/scobel/am-ende-klafft-ein-grosse-luecke-100.html?mode=play&obj=73218 Presentation of the Equal Care Day action day in the program scobel: Geschäfte mit der Hausarbeit, 3sat, April 26, 2018. inset: Am Ende klafft eine große Lücke and Unser Leben besteht auch aus Fürsorge
- ↑ Street Interview. "Girls'Day Asks: Care Work". Youtube (in Deutsch). Girls'Day. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
- ↑ Elke Ferner (2017-03-01). "ASF-Federal-Chairwoman-Elke Ferner-demands-more-recognition-for-care-work". Retrieved 2018-09-29.
- ↑ Birgit Strahlendorff (2018-02-28). "Every day should be an Equal Care Day". vdl-hessen.info. dbb bundesfrauenvertretung. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
- ↑ Kordula Schulz-Asche, Spokesperson for Care Policy (2018-03-01). "Equal Care Day: Care-Arbeit endlich attraktivktiver machen" (Press release). Bundestagfraktion Bündnis 90 - Die Grünen. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
- ↑ "Hashtag #equalcareday on Twitter". Retrieved 2018-09-22.
- ↑ "Der ECD in den Medien". Equal Care Day. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ↑ "Drese für Verteilung von Erwerbs- und Sorgearbeit". Zeit Online. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ↑ "Equal Care Day – Sorgearbeit sichtbar machen". Leipziger Zeitung. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
- ↑ "„Care-Arbeit ist keine Lücke im Lebenslauf"". radio fm4. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- Equal Care Manifest
- Erklärvideo zum Equal Care Day auf YouTube
- klische*esc e.V., Gemeinnütziger Verein zur Förderung von Wahlfreiheit jenseits limitierender Rollenklischees
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