Caring labour: redistributing care work

A diverse economies approach to examining care work allows us to pay attention to the multiple and complex forms of ‘compensation’ and motivation that compel us to perform this labour. While some of this care work is compensated in wages, much of it is performed in a mixture of complex class processes with a complex range of motivations. The question, then, is not only how do we recognize what motivates and perhaps compensates this important care work but also how do we redistribute the labour of caring more equitably across gender, class, race and even species boundaries. The chapter examines two examples of this recognition and redistribution of care work: the care work of parents using ‘elimination communication’ as an infant hygiene practice, and the care work of the more-than-human in an urban farm aimed at increasing youth mental well-being.