Part Time For All: The Care Manifesto

• In Event: Care Ethics Critiques of the Current Political Moment

Abstract

This paper will focus on the main themes of the forthcoming co-authored book on “Part Time for All.” The proposal is that norms should reflect this principle: that all people should work part-time and care part-time. At the heart of our argument is the claim that everyone needs to have life long experience of the benefits, demands, and significance of providing (and receiving) care. Neither this experience nor the revaluation can happen without a radical restructuring of work. But there is another dimension: good governance (in both the public and the private realms) is only possible if those with high-level policy -making positions have first hand experience with the nature of care: its demands, its rewards, its significance for human thriving and connection. In other words, even if the equality and denigration problems were solved in some other way than having everyone participate in care, there would be another core problem left unresolved. Our hope is that this proposal will spark an urgently needed conversation that will radically change existing beliefs and practices around work and care.

Author

• Jennifer Nedelsky, York University