Did you know that we give and receive free gifts every day? Have you noticed that the logic of exchange (giving in order to receive) often doesn’t explain our interactions at all?
Bank of Care (BoC) is an alternative banking system for the gift economy in which needs are satisfied unilaterally without expecting a return. The women-run non-market production in households is the basic human economy from which other economies derive yet it is ignored by world governments and the way economics is taught in universities.
Economists justify that women are globally invisible because it’s difficult to obtain data on their productivity. But if the current statistical tools used are inadequate for measuring vital care labour in the home, then these need to be redesigned.
I reached out to women living in various countries and asked them to list their routine chores in the home, from housekeeping to childcare. Their stories were echoing each other despite their culturally different surroundings and social class. Their rich, honest, and sometimes humorous audio recordings are the lifeblood of BoC and what originally inspired me to design this system.
In a three-step loop, BoC records caregiving, translates it into readable data, and rewards caregivers. Keeper Assistant, a smart speaker, makes daily recording of care work as seamless and hassle-free as possible. Members get a detailed overview of their free labour in the form of daily receipts and cumulative statistics. They are creating mounting evidence that this productivity exists.
As a community, BoC seeks to empower women as the producers of welfare through the implementation of our own basic income. The view on Universal Basic Income as “giving free money to lazy people” is quickly invalidated once we take into account the tremendous commitment, resources, and time spent on care responsibilities.
See the system map below explaining each element in detail ↓↓↓
Bank of Care is my Master Industrial Design graduation project at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) which is nominated for the Royal Academy Master Award.
BoC is an ongoing work, due to be exhibited at the KABK Graduation Show and Dutch Design Week 2020.
