The Carework Network launched in August 2000 with a one-day conference at Howard University in Washington, D.C., prior to the American Sociological Association meetings. In the quarter century since, many of our motivating questions have continued as both pressing social matters and persistent research interests. Simultaneously, new questions have emerged as the Network has expanded to include a broader range of disciplines, participants, geographic contexts, and research settings.
From June 5-7, 2025, the Carework Network took the opportunity of its 25th anniversary to reflect on the histories and futures of carework research and the study of care more broadly during a bilingual (Spanish and English) three-day hybrid conference bringing together researchers and advocates from around the world.
The conference explored how conversations about care have developed during this period and what factors have informed notable inflection points — not only discrete events such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic but also more sustained dynamics such as environmental crises, pervasive neoliberal policies, the ongoing importance of migrant careworkers, the changing role of technologies and infrastructures, and renewed global reckonings with the effects of racism and colonialism.
Download the Final Conference Program
Preliminary Schedule
Thursday, June 5 / Jueves 5 de junio
Pre-Conferences/ Pre-conferencias
1) 9:00am-12:00 -> Measuring the Care Economy in the US: Understanding Data Sources and Gaps / Medición de la economía del cuidado en los EE.UU.: Fuentes de datos y vacíos pendientes
*Esta actividad se desarrollará completamente en inglés, sin traducción en simultáneo al español.
*This event will be in English
Measuring the care workforce and informal care within the US requires data, and the data resources available to understand and measure the care economy are expanding. This data workshop will give attendees an overview of measuring care using IPUMS datasets. IPUMS provides census and survey data integrated across time and space, making it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community contexts.
- Measuring care work in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) · Measure informal care in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)
- Measuring the care workforce using the Current Population Survey (CPS) and American Community Survey (ACS)
- Other data resources for measuring the care workforce and care expenditures
The workshop will be offered by Sarah Flood, who leads both IPUMS CPS and IPUMS ATUS. We will also include a segment on the recent project “Measuring Care Provision in the United States: Resources, Shortfalls, and Possible Improvements” by Nancy Folbre, Shawn Fremstad, and Pilar Gonalons-Pons with Victoria Coan.
**Refreshments provided. Separate registration is required.
2) 8:00am-5:00pm -> YSI Pre-Conference Workshop Care Work and Economic Justice: Perspectives and Policies
Participate in the pre-conference workshop and 4th Global Carework Summit ‘Histories and Futures of care’ at Duke University (North Carolina, USA). Participation is open to young students at any stage of their studies, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and early-career teaching assistants, as well as activists and non-students in the field of care. Some selected participants (4 from the region + 2 partial grants for people outside region) prioritizing place of residence, quality of work, and diversity of fields, ideas, and identities, could be eligible for financial support. Travel support constitutes a partial reimbursement for travel expenses and accommodation.
12:00 pm: Summit Registration / Registro del Encuentro
1:30-4:15: Concurrent Sessions /Sesiones simultáneas
4:30-5:45: Histories & and Futures of Care Work Studies
6:00-7:30: Welcome Reception and Awards / Bienvenida y premiación
Friday, June 6 / Viernes, 6 de junio
8:00-9:00: Mentoring Breakfast / Desayuno de mentoreo
Individuals who are interested in learning more about careers in academia or advocacy are invited to join for semi-structured conversations led by experienced mentors in these areas. Participants can join tables with different areas of focus, and engage with both peers and mentors in conversations about career pathways and challenges. The breakfast will be hosted by Alexandra LaKind and Janette Dill, along with other invited mentors.
Se invita a participar en el desayuno de mentoreo a las personas interesadas en conocer las distintas opciones de carrera académica, de activismo y de gestión. En esta actividad se llevarán adelante conversaciones semiestructuradas dirigidas por mentoras/es experimentadas/es/os en estas áreas. Quienes participen pueden unirse a distintas mesas dependiendo del área de interés. Allí podrán participar con colegas y expertas/es/os en conversaciones sobre las ditintas trayectorias profesionales y sus desafíos. Alexandra LaKind y Janette Dill, serán les anfitriones de la propuesta.
9:00-11:45: Concurrent Sessions /Sesiones simultáneas
12:00-1:00: Lunch / Almuerzo
1:00: When We Win: Lessons from Care Politics in Latin America
2:30-7:00: Concurrent Sessions /Sesiones simultáneas
Saturday, June 7
9:00-11:45: Concurrent Sessions /Sesiones simultáneas
12:00-1:00: Lunch / Almuerzo
1:00: Trans and Queer Care in Times of Ongoing Antagonism
2:30-7:00: Concurrent Sessions /Sesiones simultáneas
Thursday, June 5th – 4:30-5:45pm
Histories & and Futures of Care Work Studies
In this thematic plenary, a panel of distinguished care scholars reflected on the most important developments in our field in the past several decades and the critical things we need to pay attention to in the decades to come.
Pallavi Banerjee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Calgary, and the Research Excellence Chair. Her research is situated at the intersections of immigration, gender, families, unpaid and paid labour, intersectionality, and transnationalism. She is the author of the award-winning book entitled, The Opportunity Trap: High-Skilled Workers, Indian Families and the Failures of Dependent-Visa Policy published by New York University Press. Her other award-winning research has been published in many peer-reviewed journals including the American Behavioral Scientist, Gender & Society, Contexts, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Sociological Forum, Gender, Work and Organization, Women, Gender and Families of Color among others. She has also written opinion pieces in venues such as The Globe and Mail, The Conversation, and Ms Magazine, and her research has been cited widely in the media in the U.S., Canada, and India. She directs the Critical Gender, Intersectionality and Migration Research Group at the University of Calgary, and is the lead researcher in the Youth and Anti-Racist Integration (YARI) Collective. Her research is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
Nancy Folbre is Professor emerita of economics and director of the Program on Gender and Care Work at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her new book, Accounting for Care, will be published next year by the University of California Press.
Pato Laterra is a Ph.D. candidate in Social Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires and a Doctoral Fellow of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), working at the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Public Policies (Centro Interdisciplinario para el Estudio de Políticas Públicas, CIEPP) in Argentina. He is a junior fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies (CATS). He is a lecturer in Gender and Economics (FCE-UBA / EIDAES-UNSAM). He holds an undergraduate degree in Economics (FCE-UBA) and a postgraduate certificate in Care Studies (CLACSO). His research focuses on the intersection of trans and feminist epistemologies, feminist economics, trans studies, care studies and social policy. His research also focuses on the living conditions and access to rights of transgender people.
Laura Pautassi has a PhD in Social Law from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She is a lawyer, with a degree from the Faculty of Law of the National University of Córdoba (UNC) and holds a specialization degree in Planning and Management of Social Policies (UBA). Dr. Pautassi is Principal Researcher at CONICET (National Council for Scientific and Technical Research), permanent researcher at the “Ambrosio Gioja” Institute for Legal and Social Research and law professor at the University of Buenos Aires. She is also the President of the Latin American Team on Justice and Gender (ELA), and Director of the Interdisciplinary Working Group on Social Rights and Public Policies.
Fumilayo Showers is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut, where she is also a faculty affiliate of the Institute of Collaboration on Health Intervention and Policy (InCHIP) and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS). She is the author of Migrants Who Care: West Africans Working and Building Lives in U.S Health Care (Rutgers, 2023).
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Friday, June 6th – 1:00-2:15pm
When We Win: Lessons from Care Politics in Latin America
Luana Simões Pinheiro is currently the Director of Care Economy at the National Department for Care and Family Policy in Brazil. Pinheiro holds a PhD in Sociology and was previously the Director of Social Studies and Policies at the Institute of Applied Economic Research.
Patricia Cossani Padilla is an expert in care and social protection policy. Cossani Padilla’s professional roles include her work as a former deputy of the National Department for Care in Uruguay. She also participated in the National Directorate of Social Policy and was involved designing Uruguay’s care system. More recently, Cossani Padilla has worked as a consultant in the construction of care systems across the Latin American and Caribbean region. Cossani Padilla graduated in political science and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of the Republic of Montevideo (Uruguay).
Saturday, June 7th – 1:00-2:15pm
Trans and Queer Care in Times of Ongoing Antagonism
Siobhan Guerrero Mc Manus studied Biology at the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM and has a master’s and Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science also from UNAM. She also holds a diploma in Art History from UNAM. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Humanities (CEIICH-UNAM). Her areas of specialization are gender and science studies, philosophy of biology, transfeminism and philosophy of subjectivity. She is Level II of the National System of Researchers. In 2018, she received the award: “Distinción Universidad Nacional para Jóvenes Académicos” and in 2020 the “Premio de Investigación” in the area of humanities granted by the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias.
Hil Malatino is Joyce L. and Douglas S. Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute and Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy at Penn State University. He is the author of Side Affects: On Being Trans and Feeling Bad (Minnesota 2022), Trans Care (Minnesota 2020), and Queer Embodiment: Monstrosity, Medical Violence, and Intersex Experience (Nebraska 2019), and co-editor of the t4t issue of TSQ alongside Cam Awkward-Rich and the “Care Ethics Otherwise” issue of Essays in Philosophy alongside Sarah Clark-Miller and Amy McKiernan. His essays have appeared in Hypatia, TSQ, Signs, and many other journals and edited volumes. He is a Lambda Literary Award finalist and recipient of the Leslie Feinberg Award in Trans Literature.
