‘—

Global Care Crisis: A Problem of Capital, Care Chains, or Commons?

The commons was originally a term used in the 15th century in relation to land that was used for livestock to graze. This land was intended for shared use for everyone. The commons can also take on a different meaning that takes the form of a community rather than land. Within this community, people are expected to work together and provide services for each other. In the 15th century land became privatized so people weren’t able to share land they way they used to. Land became restricted, and the same thing happened to communities through migration. The way people can work for and with each other changed. The meaning of this concept in relation to the concerns discussed by the authors, is that there is a strong need of the commons within third world countries. Able bodied adults are heavily needed to provide their services as caretakers to the elderly and children, or as nurses and teachers, but this is also the same population of people who are leaving their countries to go to other first world nations in order to do work for a higher pay so they can financially support their family. We require this concept of the commons in order to understand how complex issues related to migration are, and how the efforts to provide a better life can lead to other problems especially for children. The idea of the commons could be applied to land use, family dynamics and community dynamics so it, along with financial gain, is necessary to understand in order to see how it impacts everyone like the children for example. The children who didn’t have their mother around them didn’t do as well in school, and experienced feelings of sadness that impacted their lives in many ways. Because women weren’t able to physically care for their children their love became commodified. Gifts and money were exchanged for taking care of someone’s child. The psycho-social growth of children became a great concern because of migrating mothers.