In person icon Race, Care and Caring: resurfacing inequalities in the pandemic

Abstract

Why do race, ethnicity and gender matter in assessing the impact of Covid-19 on care, carers and caring? Recent discussions around the Covid-19 pandemic have highlighted inequalities in the care system, particularly vis a vis communities of colour in the UK - the rates of infection and death have been much higher in these communities. Research by the PSA Commission on Care showed (2016) that policy around social care does not adequately address the needs of BAME carers. It highlighted the privatisation of care, communication with BAME communities, and the assumptions of informal care regimes within some communities. During the pandemic we note that the load of care continues to fall disproportionately on women; women of BAME backgrounds died in large numbers because of their disproportionately high presence in the health and social care sectors of work. Children faced isolation and older people suffered from loneliness and depression during the mismanaged lockdowns. The transnational care chains that support care work in the UK are also under considerable pressure because of the pandemic and Brexit. We propose a roundtable to discuss how the pandemic has sharpened social inequalities for BAME communities and what can be done about this - how a focus on race and gender helps us understand the organisation of care during the pandemic and how austerity cuts and increasing racialised rhetoric affect the care of BAME communities further. It will explore the ways that care and caring have been reconfigured along axes of race, ethnicity and gender privilege - across both space and time - during the pandemic.