Mariya Ivancheva - Feminised Care Labour in Post-Socialist Bulgaria

Who cares? A report on feminised care labour and the crisis of social reproduction in post-socialist Bulgaria

This presentation will offer a summary of the findings of a recent report published by Bulgarian feminist group LevFem in Bulgarian and English. Presented by one of the report’s authors it reflects on the data from a qualitative research project conducted between January and September 2024 across Bulgaria and working in various fields — education, healthcare, and care for the elderly, children, and people with disabilities. The research identifies some of the key issues characteristic of the care sector in Bulgaria in terms of working conditions, vulnerabilities, and mobilisation. Most importantly, it identifies Bulgaria as a place where the global supply care chain breaks. Due to emigration of qualified and unqualified care workers to developed countries especially in Western Europe, low financial and moral recognition of care work and a restrictive border regime in Bulgaria, the country experiences severe shortages across the care sector, and thus an acute care deficit. As a result, in Bulgaria the healthcare, early education, and the social care systems all rely on the overtime and overload of care labour done by elderly women, many of whom are themselves living with disabilities and facing physical and financial difficulties. The report also identifies struggles and possibilities for solidarity, awareness raising and lobbying across the sector and society that extend in the next cycle of LevFem’s research and advocacy work.

The report will be presented by one of its authors, Dr Mariya Ivancheva, Senior Lecturer of the Strathclyde Institute of Education and member of LevFem since its establishment in 2018. Mariya is a feminist sociologist and anthropologist working on higher education and high-skilled labour markets, with focus on political economy, intersectional inequalities, and mobilisations. LevFem is a Bulgarian left feminist organisation whose work addresses issues related to the socio-economic inequalities produced in a capitalist economy, which are directly linked to the increase in gender inequalities and gender-based violence.

A free copy of the report can be downloaded at this link: https://levfem.org/who-cares-about-care/

Host or Publisher Strathclyde Feminist Research Network