(How) can unpaid care work be put on strike?

The following article is by Silvia Klein, who is involved in the Care Revolution network, including in the working group on a feminist/care strike. To make it easier to read, download and print, you can also find her article as a PDF below. This also contains footnotes with references, which are missing in the text on the page in favour of the reading flow.

2027 could be the year of a nationwide feminist strike in Germany. Instead of a feminist strike, there is often talk of a care strike. No wonder, as women (the official statistics are unfortunately correspondingly binary) still perform 43 per cent more unpaid care work than men and are also disproportionately represented in strenuous (under)paid care professions. The devaluation of care work is therefore a feminist issue.

Strikes in care professions are no longer as rare as strikes called by the trade union as part of collective bargaining. Of course, compared to many other professions, there are higher emotional and organisational barriers to strike action, which are linked to the fact that care work cannot simply be stopped. Moreover, in many care sectors, strikes do not generate economic pressure because they do not reduce income. Solidarity concepts that ensure care and support, e.g. in the event of a daycare centre strike, are being tested and the daycare centre strikes or the ongoing strike by employees of the Vivantes subsidiaries in Berlin for inclusion in the collective agreement show that such strikes are a reality.

However, a comprehensive feminist care strike is not just about organising paid care work. If the project is meant seriously and is to have a corresponding impact, unpaid care work must not be excluded. It represents too large a proportion of the work performed by society as a whole. Patriarchal structures are also particularly evident in the private sphere. It is no coincidence, for example, that women in heterosexual relationships do more care work than their partners.

There are two problems with strikes over unpaid care work:

Firstly, care work cannot simply not be done and, unlike a trade union strike, there are hardly any concepts to ensure the necessary work during the strike. The very indispensability of care, which makes the strike necessary, can slow it down. It is essential to prevent a strike from primarily affecting those who are already vulnerable and suffering from the structures. Only if this can be credibly assured will it be possible to mobilise people with care responsibilities across the board.

Secondly, a strike in paid work aims to build up so much economic pressure that those responsible would rather give in to the demands than continue to accept the strike situation. In unpaid care work, this pressure can at best be built up indirectly, for example if fathers have to take a career cut in order to take on the care work that mothers refuse to do.

So how can unpaid care work be integrated into a care strike?

Here are three (non-exhaustive) ways of conceptualising a care strike.

One possibility is to stop care work in the same way as a strike in gainful employment. This does not create direct economic pressure, but it does create emotional pressure. However, this arises on both sides. The person who takes on the housework every day will also be annoyed if the dirty laundry pile keeps growing higher and higher. Refusing to do care work can also lead to tensions and, in the worst case, violence in private relationships. Sick people and children who are dependent on care should also not be neglected.

One approach would be to differentiate according to the type of care work and to call for people to give up work that is uncomfortable but not life-threatening. A husband will not die if his wife does not cook or clean for him for a while, but it will be a real nuisance and make the otherwise invisible care work visible. Collective care options could be sought for caring or childcare. Then, of course, the work will not be stopped completely (which is not possible), but the burden will be spread over more shoulders and this will start a process that will hopefully even change the organisation of care work in the long term.

Another option could be to strike against other activities in order to draw attention to care work and the capacities required for it, for example one's own gainful employment, if available. This comes with its own risks and only really works if an overarching general strike with collective power is organised. Strike protection at the workplace only exists if it is called by the relevant trade union within a permitted period and with demands that affect the area of work. At the same time, there is a certain framework for political demands in a trade union strike. With both this and the aforementioned form of care strike, if it is called, consideration must be given to protection against violence and legal protection for all those involved. Individuals should not be asked to bear the risk of their strike alone.

A metaphorical strike is also possible, as this concept is called by the Precarias a la deriva collective. The argument in favour of this is that a care strike must function differently to traditional strikes. In late capitalist society, care itself has become a productive field. Most areas of our lives now follow a capitalist logic of exploitation, must be constantly quantified and optimised and are subject to the pressure to grow. As care cannot be suspended, the strike must instead produce an overproduction that eludes the market. The collective needs-oriented organisation of care activities without profit orientation could therefore already be understood as a strike against the existing capitalist order. This presupposes that the strike becomes an everyday practice and that there is space for diverse forms of solidarity-based organisation of care work and that it is possible to move from isolation to communality.

Either way, if a care strike is to be successful and involve as many people as possible, a certain openness to different forms of strike and different interpretations of the concept of strike must be possible. A complete softening of the concept of a strike, where every small action is labelled a "strike", is certainly not helpful. A strike that has an effect must in some way break through the existing order, be disruptive and loud. A strike and action period in which different political, feminist and trade union groups, each with their own experience, pick up different people where they are and make strike offers that can be implemented in the mobilisation seems promising. In doing so, it will be unavoidable to question ourselves and what we are used to. It is quite possible that we will also have to have stressful conversations in our private lives, that accusations will arise (because, for example, a mother no longer carries the entire mental load without being asked) and that some things will not run smoothly at first in the process of redistributing care work. Certain inconveniences have to be accepted. Ultimately, it will be even more unpleasant in the long term if we don't go on strike and everything continues as before.

In addition, consideration should also be given to what the aim of a feminist care strike is. This may also be different from the aim of an economic strike in a labour dispute. It is probably not too pessimistic to claim that a strike day cannot overcome patriarchy.

However, the actions, the mobilisation, the coming together can be the prelude to solidarity and a different organisation of care work, one in which care is at the centre. The feminist care strike is not a singular event, but a process on the way to a good life for all. To achieve this, it is essential that the structures that emerge during the strike and the mobilisation are equal and do not reflect the sexism and other structural forms of discrimination that prevail in society and that are inscribed in all of us.

Finally, an appeal to return to the feminist tradition in which we stand. We are not the first and not the only ones to fight for our rights and lay down our labour in the process. Iceland 1975, Italy 2017, Basque Country 2022, to name just a few not too distant feminist and women's (general) strikes in which unpaid care work was also on strike. Let's talk to each other, share experiences and learn from each other.

In Switzerland, the Feminist Strike Collective is calling for a feminist strike in 2027, which will focus on unpaid care work. We can also take inspiration from this here. The collective's website already contains some creative ideas on how to organise a care strike and make unpaid care work visible. Suggestions include actions such as charging family members or politicians for care work, taking symbolic breaks from work or, if possible, organising temporary substitute care[

As always, together we are strong. So let's strike together. We simply cannot afford the alternative.