Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that from 7 – 18 September 2009 UN-INSTRAW is 
hosting the virtual discussion "Global Care Chains: Assessing the 
Situation and Policy Challenges".

Global Care Chains result from the care crisis and the crisis of social 
reproduction. The former occurs in countries of migration destination 
when the demand for care labour exceeds the supply. The latter occurs in 
countries of origin when households are unable to secure social 
reproduction and seek new survival strategies, such as migration, to 
which more and more women are turning.  This shifting of reproductive 
labour from one person to another creates ‘global care chains’ along 
gender, socio-economic and ethnic lines. A discussion on the formation 
of global care chains provides an excellent position from which to 
examine the relationship between migration, gender and development. We 
will be looking at the how care work and migration intersect, the new 
transnational dimensions of the sexual division of labour, and policy 
challenges.

The discussion will look at how the care system currently in place is 
unfair:

·         Care is invisible: there is no public debate on how to 
organize care and it forms no part of public policy.

·         Care is usually seen as the responsibility of women in the 
household and not a responsibility of society.

·         The ability to give and receive appropriate care is a key 
factor of inequality and social exclusion; the line between decent and 
poor quality care distinguishes between privileged and underprivileged 
social groups.

The discussion will be based on two of UN-INSTRAW’s working papers from
the series “Global perspectives on the social organization of care in
the care crisis” which are available for download here:
http://un-instraw.org/grvc/library/global-care-chains.
We ask that you read the papers before the beginning of the discussion.

To participate you must be a member of the Gender and Migration Virtual
Community http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc. To register please click here:
http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=registers&Itemid=62&lang=en&utm_source=invitation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vdgcc2
To contribute simply sign into the community website:
http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc/index.php?utm_source=invitation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vdgcc2
between September 7 and 18, 2009 and post your comments in the forum:
http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc/fireboard/virtual-discussion-discusion-virtual-discussion-virtuelle/welcome-bienvenid-s-bienvenu-e-s
More information about using the forum can be found here:
http://www.un-instraw.org/grvc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36&Itemid=98&lang=en&utm_source=invitation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vdgcc2

I look forward to a dynamic discussion.

Sincerely,
Laura Olsen
[log in to unmask]


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