Poverty, work and care

There are many routes into poverty in the UK. A particularly effective one is to spend time looking after other people, a route that is most often taken by women, who are twice as likely as men to be poor (TUC 2008a). Conversely, most wealthy individuals delegate care to others. We all need to be cared for at some stage in our lives, and we have a collective interest in living in a society in which the next generation of citizens will be well brought up. Any discussion of class and inequality therefore needs to address the ways in which care is distributed and rewarded, as a matter of enlightened self-interest as well as justice.