Women’s Invisible Work

When it comes to work, we usually think of an activity that is paid. However, it already requires a lot of work to able to work; we must eat, sleep, and take care of all the basic needs. Moreover, someone has raised us to become workers. These activities, raising children, running a household (shopping, cleaning, etc.) are usually carried out to a greater extent by women in the families; often in a second, unpaid shift after getting home. However, this work is not recognized in society as such. Moreover, in political and public discourses it mostly remains invisible, or it appears as an essential natural part of femininity and motherhood. 

The event at the Centre for Gender and Culture will address this invisible work and how it defines relationships between women and men on an individual and social level. Júlia Bakó is an activist in the Nők Egymásért Mozgalom (Women for Each Other Movement) and in connection with their campaign (“Make it visible!”), she will talk about how invisible work affects Hungarian women, and why and how they deal with this topic as a group of feminist activists. The sociologists Dóra Gábriel and Noémi Katona will talk about the situation of elderly care in Hungary, which (although it affects many families) is far from being a visible topic in the public life today. In addition to care work in families, we will talk specifically about the paid (but undocumented) home-based care services for elderly people. 

The program: 

15:30 – Opening, Beáta Nagy, Centre for Gender and Culture, CUB 

15:40 – Júlia Bakó (NEM): Make it visible! 

15:55 – Dóra Gábriel (ELKH KRTK RKI) and Noémi Katona (ELKH TK SZI): Home-based care for the elderly in Hungary  

16:15 – Roundtable discussion – Moderator: Flóra Kökéndy (CUB) 

16:40 – Q&A 

You can find more information at the Facebook event.