The Ethics of Care in a Changing World [PL]

About This Symposium

The Ethics of Care in a Changing World is a one-day gathering examining care work in all its dimensions — paid and unpaid, formal and informal, chosen and compelled — and the moral, economic, and political questions it raises.

The Care Crisis

Across the world, care systems are under strain. Ageing populations, reduced state provision, and the legacy of the pandemic have converged to place unprecedented pressure on the women who provide most of the world’s care — often without recognition, compensation, or support.

This symposium brings together scholars, practitioners, and advocates to think carefully about:

• The moral status of care — what we owe to those who care, and why care has been so systematically devalued.
• Motherhood and its contradictions — the joy, the cost, and the institutional failures that make it harder than it needs to be.
• Policy responses — what the evidence tells us about what works, from paid parental leave to universal childcare.
• Care across cultures — how different traditions understand the ethics and practice of care, and what we can learn from that diversity.

“A society that does not value care does not value life. The question is not whether we can afford to care for each other. It is whether we can afford not to.”

Practical Details

The symposium will be held in Madrid with simultaneous interpretation in English, Spanish, and French. A limited number of travel grants are available for participants from the Global South — contact us for details.