Political Economy
and Care

How lovely that you are able to read this. That was made possible because you were born through (likely) unpaid labor by a woman and you were raised, dressed, fed, looked after and taught by people in differing relationship and labor constellations. Because you are able to drink water and breath air that planet earth has provided you for free.

All of that is care. Another word for it is economy. Inserting the relationship between care and economy into the public discourse is my work.

Feline-Tecklenburg_Foto-Robert-Bosch-Stiftung_Anita-Back_03

Photo: Robert Bosch Stiftung, Anita Back

Feline-Tecklenburg_Foto-Robert-Bosch-Stiftung_Anita-Back_mobile_01

Photo: Robert Bosch Stiftung, Anita Back

Specifics

I’m a political economist for the social-ecological transformation with a focus on the nexus of economy and care (work).

As co-founder and executive co-director of the post-patriarchal think-and-action-lab Wirtschaft ist Care [Economy is care], I get involved – by writing, connecting, advocating, instigating.

In my academic work, I engage with the manifold solutions and initiatives on future-oriented economies and the role of the care economy. I am currently conducting international research for my PhD in this field.

The diverse crises of our time require bold socio-political and economical transformations. The economy can only be bold and sustainable if caring for each other and the environment is centred at its core. To work toward such a future, I’m part of a worldwide movement for care-centred economies.

Studied political science, sociology, economics and gender studies at the Universities of Freiburg, Basel and Kassel and at the Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung [Applied science college for transformation of societies].

Boardmember of the Swiss journal Neue Wege. [Learn more]

Member of the scientific advisory board of Barbara Budrich Publishers. [Learn more]

Previous activities: co-lead of the Seventh Swiss Women*s Synod Economy is Care; teaching assignments at the University of Freiburg (Institute for Political Theory, Institute for Sociology and Scandinavian Institute); co-lead of economic summer schools at agape centro ecumenico in Piedmonte, Italy; co-lead of the conference FürSorge NichtMärkte – Positionen einer feministischen Ökonomie [ForCare NotMarkets – Positions on feminist economics] with the Cusanus Studierendengemeinschaft e.V.; speaker of Nadyne Saint-Cast MP, B’90/Die Grünen; freelance collaborator at the Centre for Political Education Baden-Württemberg.

“Our [current] social system is sapping energies needed to tend to families, maintain households, sustain communities, nourish friendships, build political networks, and forge solidarities.”

Nancy Fraser. 2022. Cannibal Capitalism. London, New York: Verso.

„There is a need to reinvent ideas around care and care ethics and how care work and care services are valued in market and non-market spheres. Care needs to be at the centre of a new economic and social model.”

UNRISD Flagship Report. 2022. Crises of inequality: Shifting Power for a new eco-social contract. Geneva: UNRISD.

„Without care there is no economy. Covid brought this home, but lessons are slipping from our minds. The care economy is not just a sideshow in the search for a postgrowth world. It is the blueprint for it.“

Tim Jackson, economist, 2023.

“Our [current] social system is sapping energies needed to tend to families, maintain households, sustain communities, nourish friendships, build political networks, and forge solidarities.”

Nancy Fraser. 2022. Cannibal Capitalism. London, New York: Verso.

UNRISD Flagship Report. 2022. Crises of inequality: Shifting Power for a new eco-social contract. Geneva: UNRISD.

Feline Tecklenburg. 2021. Wirtschaft ist Care ist radikale Demokratie. In: Fehle, Hans Jörg und Andrea Langenbacher (Hrsg.). Dass die Welt wohnlich für alle wird. Klartexte, Anfragen, Perspektiven. Ina Praetorius zum 65. Geburtstag. Ostfildern: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag (in German) [Title translation: Economy is care is radical democracy]

Public

The care economy and concomitant care work usually remain invisible. Fortunately, the societal discourse on it is becoming increasingly more visible. Here is a selection of my contributions on the care economy as well as on other topics that are important to me.

Publications

With Roman Kiefer. Konfliktfelder und Wertigkeiten von Arbeit in einer Landkommune. In: Michaela Doutch et al. (Hrsg.): Arbeitswelten. Neue Perspektiven aus Räumen der Re/Produktion. Heidelberg: Springer Spektrum. (Will be published January 2026) (in German) [Title translation: Areas of conflict and values of work in a rural community]

2025 Mit Liska Beulshausen, Amelie Fischer und Johannes Otterbach. Für Sicherheit sorgen: Care ins Zentrum einer Antifaschistischen Wirtschaftspolitik. In: Dossier Sicherheit beim Gunda Werner Institut in der Heinrich Böll Stiftung. [Learn more]

2025 Review of 'The Care Economy' by Tim Jackson. In: Soziologie und Nachhaltigkeit. Beiträge zur sozial-ökologischen Transformationsforschung. (in German) [Learn more]

2025 With Liska Beulshausen. What changing the nappies, cleaning the loo and being on stage have to do with the economy. Toi Toi Toi – Magazine of GDBA - Stage Union. No. 05/06-2025. (in English) [Learn more]

2025 Zum Anbeten, auch wenn sie keine Göttin ist. Neue Wege, Jg. 118, Nr. 3 Zürich. (in German) [Title translation: To worship, even if she is not a goddess] [Learn more]

2024 Was Windeln wechseln und Klo putzen mit Wirtschaft zu tun haben. (in German) [Title translation: What changing nappies and cleaning the loo have to do with the economy] DGB-Blog Was verdient die Frau? [Learn more]

2023 Der homo oeconomicus ist keine alleinerziehende Mutter. In: Außerschulische Bildung, Nr. 4/23, Berlin. (in German) [Title translation: homo oeconomicus is not a single mum] [Learn more]

2023 With Uta Meier-Gräwe and Ina Praetorius (editors). Wirtschaft neu ausrichten. Care-Initiativen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich. (in German) [Title translation: Re-organize the economy. Care-initiatives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.] [Learn more]

2021. Pflicht, Verantwortung, Genuss!? Appell für ein lustvolles Sorgen in der politischen Philosophie. theorieblog.de (in German) [Title translation: Duty, responsibility, pleasure? Invoking pleasurable caring in political philosophy] [Learn more]

2021 Wirtschaft ist Care ist radikale Demokratie. In: Fehle, Hans Jörg und Andrea Langenbacher (Hrsg.). Dass die Welt wohnlich für alle wird. Klartexte, Anfragen, Perspektiven. Ina Praetorius zum 65. Geburtstag. Ostfildern: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag (in German) [Title translation: Economy is care is radical democracy] [Learn more]

2021 With Ina Praetorius and Georges Zahno. Economy is care – (Not) a walk. For example in Sursee. Edited by the Seventh Swiss Women*s Synod. (in English) [Learn more]

2021 Die Veränderung einer grossen Sache. Ein Bericht über die coronabedingte Transformation der Frauensynode. FAMA, Nr. 2/21, Zürich. [Learn more]

2020 Wirtschaft ist Care ist Politik. Neue Wege, Jg. 114, Nr. 9, Zürich. [Learn more]

Interviews

Mai 2025 Interview mit Ruslan Amirov auf Bayern 2: Wie Care-Arbeit und Wirtschaft zusammen hängen [Learn more]

Oktober 2024 Interview mit Partners For A New Economy: Regenerative Economics – in conversation with Jennifer Brandsberg-Engelmann and Feline Tecklenburg. [Learn more]

September 2024 Gespräch mit Michael Brie & Maja Hess in Neue Wege: Ein Sozialismus für das 21. Jahrhundert? [Learn more]

Mai 2024 Interview mit Dad – Das Online Magazin für Väter: Ist der Muttertag überhaupt noch zeitgemäß? [Learn more]

Mai 2023 Dissens Podcast #213 Care-Ökonomie: Warum unsere Wirtschaft ein Fürsorge-Update braucht [Learn more]

Januar 2023 Interview mit kath.ch zum Weltwirtschaftsforum in Davos [Learn more]

Videos

Mai 2024 Kurzfilm „So wird Care-Arbeit gerechter“ der Robert Bosch Stiftung [Learn more]

Januar 2024 Keynote bei „STAGE-CARE – Wer erzählt uns keine Geschichte und warum?“ im Berliner Ballhaus Ost [Learn more]

Dezember 2023 Podiumsgespräch „Who Cares? Warum Sorge ins Zentrum allen Wirtschaftens gehört!“ in der Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung [Learn more]

Mai 2023 Buchlaunch des Sammelbandes „Wirtschaft neu ausrichten – Care-Initiativen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz“ im Literaturhaus Freiburg [Learn more]

Januar 2022 Kommentar zur Sorgekrise beim Berliner Dialog über den UNRISD Flagship Report „Shifting Power for a New Eco-Social Contract“ [Learn more]

Juni 2021 Dokumentarfilm „Leistung zum Nulltarif? Vom Wert der Sorge für andere“ von Sabine Jainski [Learn more]

Press reviews

Mai 2025 Evangelische Zeitung: Ökonominnen wollen Umdenken – Windeln wechseln ist auch Wirtschaft [Learn more]

Photo: Philip Wilson

Photo: Philip Wilson

Queries

You have a project that you’d like to implement with me? The social-ecological transformation only works when we act together. Multiplication and public education are crucial.

I offer lectures and talks, workshops, interviews, moderation of topic-specific events, consulting, and articles.

Bisherige Zusammenarbeit u.a. mit: Bundesstiftung Gleichstellung; Robert Bosch Stiftung; United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD); Equal Pay Day; Business and Professional Women Germany (BPW); Universität Wien; DGB; Arbeitskreis deutscher Bildungsstätten; Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Brüssel; Pro Quote Bühne; Thinktank Hot or Cool; Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung; Junge Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft; Genossenschaft Deutscher Bühnen Angehöriger; Bühnenmütter*; Regenerative Economics Project; Hessisches Landestheater Marburg; Grüne Jugend Hamburg; Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen, Landesverband Niedersachsen; Wellbeing Economy Alliance; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hauswirtschaft e.V.; FRIBIS (Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies), Gunda-Werner-Institut

Get in touch: contact(at)felinetecklenburg.com

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Political Economy
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