Who Cares?

Key messages:

• The gender pay gap and other risks linked to the devaluation of care work should be tackled by combating ageism; creating and enforcing a minimum standard of care provision; creating a professional qualification system and career pathways for professional carers; and by supporting community-based care with solutions that respect the dignity and identity of care receivers.
• Measures to support informal caregivers should allow them to receive and transfer pension contributions and provide them with an array of relief measures. Also, the choice to provide care and by whom to be cared by to both caretakers and caregivers should be secured.
• Care in old age should be a social responsibility framed as a human right, where a minimum standard of universal care is provided to everyone and quality controls are put in place.

References:

• David-Barrett, T. (2019). Network Effects of Demographic Transition. Scientific Reports 9(2361).
• European Social Policy Network (2018). Challenges in long-term care in Europe. A study of national policies. Brussels: European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.
• Nazio, T. (2018). Family formation trajectories and elderly’s networks: inequalities by demographic processes? Presentation at the European Consortium for Sociological Research (ECSR) 2018 Conference, Paris.
• Spasova, S. et al. (2018). Challenges in long-term care in Europe. A study of national policies, European Social Policy Network (ESPN), Brussels: European Commission. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=9185