Global Care Chains
Global care chains describe the process through which care needs in one country are met by the labor of workers—most often migrant women—from another country. In higher-income countries, migrant women frequently provide childcare, eldercare, and support for people with illnesses or disabilities. At the same time, the care responsibilities they leave behind are often transferred to other women in their home countries, including relatives, neighbors, or lower-paid care workers. In this way, care labor is redistributed through a global chain. Rather than resolving the care crisis, these arrangements often shift care responsibilities across borders and reproduce existing inequalities on a global scale.
GÜNCEL İSTATİSTİKLER
11.5
MILLION MIGRANT WORKERS
Around 11.5 million migrant domestic workers are employed in care and household services worldwide.
%30-60
A large share of migrant women workers are concentrated in care and domestic work. In some high-income countries, 30–60% of the domestic and care workforce is made up of migrants.
606
Approximately 606 million women worldwide are unable to participate in paid employment because of unpaid care responsibilities. For men, the equivalent figure is around 41 million.
CURRENT CARE POLICIES
Care Policy Recommendations Tool
At İhtimam, we curate emerging care policy recommendations and translate them into practical guidance for different stakeholders. Select a stakeholder group and thematic area to explore relevant policy recommendations, strategies, and actions from Türkiye and around the world.
THE FUTURE OF CARE
Care Radar
The Care Radar tracks emerging developments, weak signals, and evolving conversations across the care landscape. It is designed to help us understand how care is changing and to explore these shifts through an ethical and systems-oriented lens.
Deepening Global Care Flows
Care shortages in high-income countries are increasingly being addressed through the labor of migrant women from lower- and middle-income countries. Care work is becoming a transnational flow that moves across borders alongside people and resources.
The Double Care Responsibilities of Migrant Women
Many migrant care workers provide paid care in the countries where they work while simultaneously coordinating care for their own children, parents, or relatives from afar. Global care chains often create both emotional and geographical separation.
The Formalization of Care Work
Some countries are strengthening legal protections, contracts, and social security arrangements for domestic and care workers. As global care chains become more visible, regulatory frameworks are expanding, although implementation remains uneven.
The Emergence of Local Care Chains
Care chains do not operate only across countries. Within countries, care work is often transferred from rural to urban areas and from lower-income communities to wealthier households. Internal migration forms an important but often overlooked layer of the care economy.
Care Migration Enters the Policy Agenda
Labour shortages in care sectors are becoming a growing focus of migration policy. Some countries are developing dedicated visa pathways for care workers, though these programmes are often driven more by labour demand than by a rights-based approach.
Growing Attention to Care Justice
Researchers, advocates, and policymakers are increasingly examining who benefits from global care arrangements and who bears their costs. Discussions of care justice are bringing greater attention to the inequalities embedded within global care chains.
