Abstract
Patriarchal dogmas confine women in a stringent role of caregivers. The unfair presumption that caring for the home and family is a duty, excessively assigned to women, creates the problematic character of the “absolute custodian,” a role that excessively burdens women with unpaid labour while limiting their agency. Sustainable Development Goal 5.4.1 acknowledges the importance of unpaid care work performed within households in order to encourage the fair distribution of care and household duties. Care signifies a reciprocal continuum of affection and protective intent between women and nature within interconnected existence. Ecofeminist scholars like Vandana Shiva and Greta Gaard have expressed the apparent connection between women and nature. However, critics such as Mary Mellor and Sherilyn MacGregor contest this essentialist viewpoint, claiming that it unfairly burdens women. Gayatri in Anuradha Roy’s All the Lives We Never Lived (2018) defies the irrational expectations of others to become an absolute custodian. This paper critically examines the identity of caregivers, focusing on how care-politics exacerbates women’s psychological suffering and marginalisation. The paper situates the analysis of challenges faced by women in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (2016–2030), linking the findings to concrete action points such as the need for social policy reform and public investment in women’s mental health and education, so as to foster empowerment and women’s participation in society. It also investigates the denial of moral obligations imposed on women and whether nature and art—as elements of ecology—provide an escape to women.
Keywords: Agency, Care-politics, Gender Equity, Sustainable Development Goals, women’s Empowerment .