Who Cares ? Reflections on an International Multidisciplinary Symposium on Care Economy

One of the targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to reduce and redistribute unpaid care work, which is mostly done by women, through the provision of public services and the promotion of shared responsibility. In February 2019, experts from academia and international organizations gathered at Okayama University for an international symposium focused on the issues around unpaid and paid care work in relation to gender equality and sustainable society. This paper will first briefly summarize the issues in care work, with a focus on childcare and elderly care in a Japanese context, followed by a discussion of the key points from the symposium related to care-centered economic and social policies.