Mapping another dimension of a feminist ethics of care: Family-based transnational care

A case study of Chinese grandparents’ transnational caregiving experiences in Canada highlights two issues that have received limited attention in the broader feminist care literature: (1) elderly persons are usually positioned as receivers rather than providers of care; and (2) transnational care studies focus on women migrating as part of “global care chains,” rather than on elderly family members migrating to meet the caring needs of adult kin who work in market economies that do not recognize caring responsibilities. The paper concludes by arguing that the distribution of care responsibilities needs to be one of the pillars in the pursuit of transnational social justice.