Der gesellschaftliche Umgang mit menschlicher Hilfsbedürftigkeit

Gender relationships are based on social constructions of dependence and independence. Dependence is a status concerning care receivers as well as care givers. Even after years of formal education care work is not yet seen as a profession because of its traditional background in Christian charity and unpaid tasks of women in the family. In the centre of public attention so far are the costs of caring, not the achievements. The critique of the welfare state leads to reductions of benefits and services and to privatisation. Thereby care work becomes a public issue. Considerations of justice can no longer be restricted to the public sphere. Instead, it becomes evident that the private sphere, where a significant part of care takes place, needs to be included in a democratic discourse on justice. There must also be included the discourse on the concept of work, so far often restricted to paid employment as well as the growing internationality of personal services in the sphere of shadow work.