Seminar: The care crisis in Western welfare states

Join us for a conversation on how Western welfare states respond to the care crisis.

Growing care demands due to ageing populations, neoliberal governance, shrinking resources and lack of trained staff due to worsening working conditions of care workers and high rates of staff turnover and burnout. All this suggests Western welfare states are facing a serious care crisis. Drastic measures are discussed and sometimes taken, such as restricting access to professional care and redirecting care demands to informal carers, often women with already substantial care responsibilities. Or relocating  people in need of care to areas where care is more affordable, such as Eastern Europe. 

There are pressing issues of gender equality, care quality, social justice and solidarity at stake. This seminar discusses some of these, raised by research projects of Professor Hanne Marlene Dahl (Roskilde University, Denmark) and Associate professor Kristine Krause (University of Amsterdam), with a response from Professor Jet Bussemaker (Leiden University and chair of the Dutch Council for Health and Society). After their contributions, the floor will be opened to reactions from the audience. 

Programme

14:00 Opening venue

14:30 Lecture by Hanne Marlene Dahl, The care crisis in the Global North: Characteristics, consequences and policy options

15:15 Lecture by Kristine Krause, Care outsourcing: Exclusive marketization in an economically unequal Europe

16:00 Tea break

16:15 Response by Jet Bussemaker

16:35 General discussion

17:00 Drinks

17:30 Close

Abstracts lectures

Hanne Marlene Dahl - The care crisis in the Global North: Characteristics, consequences and policy options.

Currently, there is politically an emerging consensus of a poly-crisis in the global North. However, this rarely includes an understanding of a care crisis. I outline the characteristics of a care crisis including the experiences of care professionals and those at the receiving end, and I argue that ignoring the care crisis has serious consequences for the sustainability of various welfare regimes. Finally, I identify some of the actual and possible strategies to lessen the care crisis – and recreate a new caring state – and discuss their implications from a feminist perspective.

Kristine Kraus - Care outsourcing: Exclusive marketization in an economically unequal Europe

The scarcity of affordable and good quality of senior care in Germany  motivates some families to relocate the care for elderly with severe care needs to Central and Eastern European countries. Even though the actual number of people who move for care remains small, care relocation makes crucial aspects of the care crise visible. Based on a qualitative study of care relocation from Germany to Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary I will discuss different cases of care homes and their clients and will place them in a wider picture of exclusive marketisation of care and overlapping migration histories in an economically unequal Europe.

Location & accessibility

The event takes place on the 30th of September 2024, from 14.30-17.30, at the Instituto Cervantes, Domplein 3, 3512 JC, Utrecht. The venue opens at 14.00. The institute is a 15 minutes walk from Utrecht Centraal Station. You can also take bus 2 (Museum ringlijn) from Utrecht Centraal Station and get off at stop Domplein. The nearest option to park is at Parkeergarage Springweg, which is a 5 minutes walk away. 

The building is wheelchair accessible via a separate entrance next to the main entrance. The event takes place on the 1st floor, which can be accessed by elevator. If you have further questions or access requests, please contact Koen Rutten at koen.rutten@uvh.nl.

Registration

Please register for the seminar below. A restricted number of seats will be available, so please register on time to secure a spot.