Abstract
This Practice as Research project combines care ethics and care politics theory with creative practice to examine and explore ways to address imbalances in the distribution of caregiving roles within Western nuclear families. Women take on roughly seventy-six percent of unpaid care work within Western households (International Labour Organisation xxix). This disproportionate amount of work caring for others within the home often leaves women with little time to care for themselves (International Labour Organisation xxx; O’Brien et al. 317). In this project, nuclear families are defined as households of two parents with their children residing in the same dwelling. The project focuses on heterosexual couples within nuclear families because multiple studies reveal that same-sex couples share unpaid caregiving responsibilities more equitably (Goldberg and Perry-Jenkins 297; Patterson et al. 179; Tornello et al. 365).
Virginia Held asserts that an “ethic of care” offers a fresh theoretical framework for shaping innovative caregiving practice (28). This ethic acknowledges humans' fundamental interdependence, as everyone will inevitably need care at various stages of life (Held 10).
Joan Tronto advocates for the political dimensions of care ethics, viewing care as a political ideal that promotes the fulfilment of care needs as the “highest social goal” (175). While such insights are valuable, the majority of applied research on care ethics and politics focuses on public institutions such as elderly care facilities and childcare centres. There is a noticeable gap in research applying care ethics and politics to nuclear families. This project seeks to address this gap by utilising a Practice as Research methodology. The project braids the academic research of care ethics and politics with the creative process of playwriting, allowing potential new understandings and solutions to be presented and rehearsed in a creative form accessible to communities and individuals.