THE ETHICS OF CARE AND GLOBAL SOCIO-EMOTIONAL COMMONS: AMELIORATING AND DISSOLVING THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CARE CHAINS

Abstract

In recent decades, care ethics has become more visible in discussions of contemporary moral problems; however, longstanding ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism remain prominent in discussing controversial contemporary issues. I show the relevance of care ethics in discussions of globalization, especially regarding care ethics's applicability to the problem of "global care chains." Global care chains form when a person from a developing nation, usually a female, emigrates to serve as a fulltime nanny or housekeeper for a middle or upper class household. Her remittances pay for another care worker to replace her at home during her absence. This chain of caring labor extends across oceans and involves multiple households and various intricate webs of relationship. Care chains are problematic for three reasons. First, immigrant care workers find themselves particularly vulnerable to manipulation and abuse at the hands of their wealthy employers: Generally, labor laws in most countries do not apply to workers in private households. Second, the consistent migration of female care workers from poorer to wealthier countries eventually damages the socio-emotional commons in these workers' home communities. Third, care chains maintain the global illusion that women have achieved genuine equality with men: Because the gendered division of labor persists in the private and public sphere along with the masculine career model, women generally still find themselves burdened with the second-shift of caring labor in their homes. In response, I propose the use of "caring contracts" to address these conflicts. First, the caring contract shows how care ethics's feminist priorities can work in conjunction with the liberally derived concept of contractual arrangements between seemingly distant parties. Second, caring contracts prohibit the abuse of immigrant care workers while motivating a global conversation regarding the patriarchal and masculinist norms that have encouraged women's reliance on care chains. Privileged men and women will have to reconsider the true value of care work and understand why all capable individuals should participate in its completion. This dialogue would have to include revising global economic polices that have forced women in developing countries to emigrate for employment opportunities.