Recognising Carework in LTC in Botswana: Why Pensions Are Not Enough.

The dominant feature on support for older persons in Botswana has focussed on Old Age Pensions. Whilst helpful, pensions fail to adequately cover the cost of care for the older person (hugely inadequate in value in the absence of other support) yet alone the (opportunity) costs of the family caregiver who is needed to care for the older person. By drawing on findings from community meetings and 80 semi-structured interviews with family caregivers and older persons, we outline the way in which family caregivers of older persons are often overlooked in thinking about long term care. The findings reveal the ways in which caregivers manage care costs for older persons in the absence of a wider range of state safety nets, or flexible employment or (extended) work programmes. The paper shows that caregivers are often excluded from state supports, both as caregivers as well as workers. In this paper we indicate how care is gendered labour and gendered labour comes at a cost. We also make policy recommendations on caregiver support and recognition of care work.