Labours of Love: The crisis in care Madeleine Bunting
Event details
The crisis of care exposed by Covid-19 has deep historical roots. For centuries the caring labours of women have been taken for granted and care work has been underpaid, and its values disregarded. But with more women now in work, with increasing numbers of elderly and with austerity dismantling the welfare state, care is under pressure as never before.
Over five years, author Madeleine Bunting travelled the country, speaking to charity workers, doctors, social workers, in-home carers, nurses and other caregivers to explore the value and humanity of care. In doing so, she found remarkable stories - in GP surgeries, in end-of-life teams and in work undertaken by parents for their disabled children - that conjure a different way of imagining our society and the connections between us.
Join Madeleine, author of Labours of Love: Crisis in Care, for a vital portrait of our nation and a clarion call for change.
This event is supported by University of York Athena Swan funding. The University holds an Institutional Bronze Athena Swan Award and 23 departmental awards. The Athena Swan Charter recognises the advancement of gender equality: representation, progression and success for all. For more information on Athena Swan visit the University's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion webpages
This is a YouTube Premiere event. You’ll be sent a link to the screening a couple of days before it takes place, as well as a reminder an hour before. You can submit questions for the speaker before Tuesday 18 May here. We will then choose a selection to put to the speaker during the pre-recording of this talk.
Image credit: Howard Sooley
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
About the speaker
For 25 years, Madeleine Bunting was a journalist on the Guardian and held a number of positions including columnist 1999-2012. She wrote on a wide range of subjects including politics, social affairs, faith and global development. Her previous books include Love of Country, which was shortlisted for the Wainright and the Saltire Prizes 2017, and The Plot which won the Portico Prize in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize. Her first novel, Island Song, won the Waverton Good Read Award in 2020.
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