Combining Paid Work and Family Care: Policies and Experiences in International Perspective

Description

As populations age around the world, increasing efforts are required from both families and governments to secure care and support for older and disabled people.At the same time both women and men are expected to increase and lengthen their participation in paid work, which makes combining caring and working a burning issue for social and employment policy and economic sustainability. International discussion about the reconciliation of work and care has previously focused mostly on childcare. Combining paid work and family care widens the debate, bringing into discussion the experiences of those providing support to their partners, older relatives and disabled or seriously ill children. The book analyses the situations of these working carers in Nordic, liberal and East Asian welfare systems. Highlighting what can be learned from individual experiences, the book analyses the changing welfare and labour market policies which shape the lives of working carers in Finland, Sweden, Australia, England, Japan and Taiwan.

Teppo Kroger is Professor of Social and Public Policy at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, where he studies ageing, disability, informal and formal care as well as childcare from local, national and international perspectives. Sue Yeandle is Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds, UK, where she researches the relationship between work and family life, employment and social policies relevant to work-care reconciliation, and the gendered organization of work.

"The international and intergenerational dimensions in this book add to our understanding of the complex negotiations between work and home life. Set in the context of changing labour markets and welfare states Sue Yeandle and Teppo Kroger have produced an excellent book which will be invaluable to academics and policy makers alike in addressing an increasing societal challenge of combining paid work and family care. It is a timely book written by leading authorities in this area." ---Professor Judith Phillips, Swansea University. "Kroger and Yeandle have brought together leading researchers from across the globe to produce a landmark volume on the conflicts experienced between family care and employment. This is the most comprehensive international comparative study yet produced and will surely become the benchmark by which policies and policy research in the new century will be measured." ---Michael Fine, Adjunct Professor, Macquarie University, Australia. "This book is a superb collection of articles on the interconnection between the private sphere of family life, and public employment." Women's Studies Association Newsletter