Recognising the full costs of care? The Gendered Politics of Compensation for families in South Africa’s silicosis class action

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Main author: Goldblatt, Beth
Other authors: Rai, Shirin M.
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-39266
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic KL Asia and Eurasia, Africa, Pacific Area, and Antarctica
K Law
description This article concerns recognition and compensation of the intimate, gendered work of caring by family members for workers who became ill with lung diseases as a result of poor labour conditions in the mines in South Africa. It focuses on a recent decision by a court in South Africa (Nkala and Others v. Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and Others, 2016) that took the unusual step of acknowledging this care work and attempting to compensate it indirectly. The article combines insights from political economy and law within a feminist frame to develop an argument about compensation for social reproductive work to address the harm experienced by the carers of mineworkers. Using the theory of depletion through social reproduction, it suggests ways of understanding the costs of care in order to fully compensate the harms suffered by the carers. This is done with reference to a photographic essay by Thom Pierce called ‘The Price of Gold’ taken in the mineworkers’ homes after their discharge from work due to illness. The article argues that ideas of depletion should inform any consideration of compensation of people engaged in caring in a range of reparatory contexts.
format Journal Article
author Goldblatt, Beth
author_facet Goldblatt, Beth
Rai, Shirin M.
authorStr Goldblatt, Beth
author_letter Goldblatt, Beth
author2 Rai, Shirin M.
author2Str Rai, Shirin M.
title Recognising the full costs of care? The Gendered Politics of Compensation for families in South Africa’s silicosis class action
publisher Sage
publishDate 2018
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/39266/

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