Research Seminar | Depletion: the human costs of caring

The human cost of social reproductive labour – depletion - is extensive and multifaceted in all societies. In my book, and in my paper, Depletion: the human costs of caring (OUP, 2024), I argue that reproduction of life doesn’t just happen – it is laboured over, in different contexts and with differential resources, unequally. In all countries, in all classes, races, religions and cultures women perform these labours more than men and are depleted in doing this work. This depletion affects individuals, households and communities; it endangers both society, the economy and indeed the planet, even as it is drawn upon as a ‘free good’ available to plug deficits in our collective everyday regimes. We need new ways of thinking about care and caring if we are to address the urgent and increasing needs of care.

Shirin M. Rai is Distinguished Research Professor, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London. She is a Fellow of the British Academy. Rai’s research interests lie in politics and feminist international political economy, performance and politics, and gender and political institutions. She has published widely in these areas, including Gender and the Political Economy of Development (Polity, 2004), Performing Representation: Women Members in the Indian Parliament (with Carole Spary; OUP), 2019; Oxford Handbook of Politics and Performance (2021; co-eds M Gluhovic, S Jestrovic and M Saward). Her latest book is Depletion: the human costs of caring (2024, OUP).