The Ethics of Care: A Feminist Approach to Human Security

Introduction

I am indebted to many people for their assistance and support in the writing of this book. Carol Gould, editor of the Global Ethics and politics series, has been encouraging and helpful from the outset. Alex Holzman at Temple University press has been an enthusiastic and supportive editor. Kim Hutchings, Josh Keton, and Carol Gould were generous with their time, reading and offering insightful comments on all or part of the manuscript. I am also grateful for the suggestions of four anonymous reviewers—two who read the initial proposal and two who read the completed manuscript. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to discuss the ideas in this book at a number of different conferences and colloquia over the past several years. I have watched and listened from the inside as the two the academic worlds that I inhabit—those of international relations and feminist philosophy—have begun to intersect in interesting and challenging ways. Conversations with virginia Held, Alison Jaggar, Joan Tronto, and Christine Koggel have enriched my understanding of feminist ethics immensely. my students have been a source of inspiration to me over the past fifteen years. During the writing of this book, I was lucky enough to work with three talented graduate students—Angela livingstone, Acknowledgments viii | ACKnoWlEDGmEnTs megan mcIntosh, and Gabrielle mason—whose research explored the importance of care ethics to diverse areas of political life. Angela and Gabrielle also served as superb research assistants as I wrote and prepared this book. of course, the day-to-day work involved in writing a book could not have occurred without the support and care of my family—my husband , Derek, and my children, samuel and olivia. This book is dedicated to them. The Ethics of Care Introduction Considering Care and security I t is likely that most people consider “care” to be important—even fundamental—to their daily lives. most families rely on relations of care—parents care for children, and often those same parents care for their own elderly parents. Family members care for one another when they are ill; for many who are fortunate, those illnesses are acute and not severe. For countless others, illness or disability is a day-to-day, relentless reality in which care must be constant and comprehensive . most people would also recognize the importance of care outside and beyond the nuclear and extended families. In most nation-states, some form of primary health care is available; certainly, the nature and quality of this care vary tremendously from state to state and are dependent upon a series of other economic, sociopolitical, and ideological factors . other forms of care also exist in most states: child care and care for people who are disabled, chronically ill, or elderly. much of this care is provided variously by the state—either centrally or at the provincial or municipal level—as well as by community organizations and private enterprises. In some cases, it is provided by migrant workers, who forfeit The future of social, emotional and caring work has tremendous implications for human well-being. —Folbre and nelson 2000 2 | InTRoDUCTIon the opportunity to care for their own children in seeking the promise of paid “care work” in income-rich countries. All social groups—from households to nation-states—must make decisions about how care will be organized. Human life as we know it would be inconceivable without relations of care. Despite the fundamental importance of care, many of us do not think much about it—who provides it or how and under what circumstances it is distributed. In many countries, such as Canada, where I currently reside and am a citizen by birth, many citizens have the luxury of not having to worry much about care. Although it may have many problems, Canada can still boast of one of the best health-care systems in the world. living in an incomerich country, many Canadian families can provide, or purchase, care for their children and their elderly, disabled, or chronically ill family members . Despite the relatively high quality of care in Canada, a closer look at the situation of care even here raises a number of questions—questions about gender, race, and socioeconomic disparities. many Canadians worry about the state of care in this country—not only our cherished health-care system but also the demand for child care in...