In person icon COVID-19 and care: state responses and the impact of policy

Abstract

It has been noted that the COVID-19 pandemic can be characterised as a ‘crisis of care’. From the very beginning, it shed light on the importance of functioning healthcare systems with adequate state funding and staffing levels. It also foregrounded the significance of work done by healthcare and domestic care workers, a sector highly feminised and racialised. This essential care work is usually underpaid and undervalued, particularly in occupations such as nursing or elderly care. On the other hand, lockdowns, the shift to working from home, and the closure of schools and childcare facilities extended the importance of care to the wider population. As childcare had to be provided within individual households, the COVID-19 pandemic became a unique moment in the modern history of the state where the care of children was “shifted fully onto parents” (Yerkes et al., 2020:4). Not only did childcare facilities close, but also grandparents and other elderly relatives were no longer available to provide help. Furthermore, many of the elderly, who were advised to isolate themselves at home, also required care provided by individuals, rather than the state. International evidence shows that while men had taken on some of the care responsibilities, women took on even more work, often combined with paid employment. Meanwhile, the institutional support from the state remained minimal in many European countries. This panel will address the issues described above, with papers that explore both aspects of care during the pandemic: 1) the undervalued care provided by care workers as well as the informal care provided within households during lockdowns and 2) the extent to which Covid-19 responses have exacerbated existing intersecting inequalities. The discussion will focus on the following areas of care and social policy: first, it will examine the pre-existing institutional settings across Europe and the relationship between welfare state regimes and care regimes. Second, it will critically analyse the varieties of the responses to the pandemic across Europe, with a particular focus on the policies related to lockdowns and those aimed at mitigating the consequences of the lockdowns. Finally, papers in the panel will explore the gendered aspects of recovery and resilience, with a particular focus on the impacts of the national recovery plans on gender and care.

Title	Details
COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland and the gendered division of care work: the impact of public policy on unpaid work and female employment	View Paper Details
Essential and forgotten. Domestic work and the impact of policy responses during the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain and Italy	View Paper Details
Gendered structural inequalities uncovered by the Covid-19 crisis in Academia: a study on working conditions, academic time usage and academic production in lockdowns and academic teleworking	View Paper Details