College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Caregivers

How caregiving is changing the focus of a special journal co-edited by sociology's Jacquelyn Litt.
It should come as no surprise that caregiving in this country is continually changing.

With the number of women in the work force and increased level of life expectancy, the demand for child and elderly care continues to rise.

And more often than not those demands increasingly fall on the shoulders of women.

Jacquelyn Litt, associate professor of sociology and interim director of women's studies for the 2003-04 academic year, recently guest edited a special issue of Gender & Society, a major social science journal on this subject. She co-edited the issue, “Global Perspectives on Gender and Carework,” with Mary Zimmerman of the University of Kansas.

This was just the second special issue published by Gender & Society that has entirely focused on an international topic. The journal's articles provided in-depth analyses of carework in a wide variety of circumstances and locations around the globe including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, the Philippines, Spain, Taiwan and the United States. The issue examines how women's carework for family (including mothering, caring for elderly parents, and doing domestic work) has changed as a consequence of global economic and cultural shifts.

"We hope that this special issue of Gender & Society can initiate exploration of new theoretical formulations of women's carework," Litt and Zimmerman write.

Litt says that the articles in this special issue indicate that global economic integration and interdependence have a direct bearing on economic displacement, migration and citizenship. Gender also continues to structure carework even as the work itself, as well as gender relations, is transformed under globalization.

"Caregiving in this country and around the world has hit a crisis point," Litt says. "Women not only are taking care of their children, but have taken in elderly parents as well. There has not been much public support for caregiving."

Carework takes two forms according to Litt. First are those individuals (primarily women) who take responsibility for the care of family. Not only is this work unpaid, it is also largely unrecognized.
A second form of carework is paid workers - daycare, nannies, and workers in nursing homes and hospitals. Again women are the primary caregivers in this case whose jobs are characterized by low benefits, low pay and high turnover.

Trends also indicate these jobs are performed in the U.S. and Europe by more and more undocumented workers.

"There are huge numbers of women moving around the world, most of whom are providing carework," Litt said.

There are potential ways to increase the rewards for caregiving however.

" One idea being talked about is a social security credit for every year of unpaid care," Litt said. "Another option would be better parental leave laws. The articles in the special issue point to the huge difference that governmental policies can make on how careworkers are rewarded in society. And yet another option is the unionization of paid careworkers."

Litt anticipates expanding the special issue of Gender & Society into a book within the next year. She hopes the book and research on this subject will ultimately help change society's notion of caregiving.

"Do we want a society that values caregiving and caregivers?" she asks. "As a society we need to come to terms with the economic and social risks that caregiving creates for women. We need to ask ourselves whether we want to be a society that takes public responsibility for carework or whether we want to continue the uneven patchwork of care we currently use.

"The point of good social policy is to develop support for the caregiver and reduce the social disadvantages of caregiving."