Caring ways of resistance in postwar Sri Lanka

Unpaid care work places a disproportionate burden on women, preventing their full economic, social and political participation. Demand for care work increases in postwar contexts and has been shown to contribute to creating everyday peace during and after war. Drawing on feminist political economy theorizing of social reproduction, this paper argues that care serves a critical function in women’s postwar social movements, where the material conditions for life are eroded and women are expected to perform the majority of unpaid household care work, hindering their political participation. Two case studies from rural Sri Lanka illustrate how women use care to build feminist solidarity in the everyday lives of their social movements. Domestic unpaid care work depletes women when unsupported; the anti-microfinance Satyagraha in Hingurakgoda (2020) and the land rights struggle in Panama (2010–) demonstrate that caring ways of resistance cultivate solidarities to maintain social movements by supporting or substituting for women’s unpaid labour in maintaining their households. This paper contributes to scholarship on political participation in postwar contexts by highlighting how caring ways enable women’s participation and mobilization in public protest movements. Women’s participation contributed to confronting the political economy of indebtedness and dispossession by demanding justice from the state.