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1 - A Feminist Dilemma

Support Unpaid Care or Support Paid Work?

from Part I - Care Policy Tensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2022

Yvette Maker
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne
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Summary

This chapter discusses ‘Wollstonecraft’s dilemma’ – the quandary facing feminists concerned with social provisioning in terms of whether to pursue women’s equality through support for their unpaid caregiving roles or through support for their paid work participation. Each option is based on (and assesses women against) the male norm of citizenship and social participation, with policy either supporting women’s ‘difference’ from men in unpaid caring or treating women ‘like’ men in paid work. Care-supportive and work-supportive policies in liberal welfare states have had both advantages and disadvantages for women. Policies that support women’s unpaid care for children or adults offer some recognition and remuneration of such roles but limit women’s ability to participate in the public sphere. Policies that support or require women to engage in paid work may offer economic autonomy but do not generally recognize or address women’s disproportionate responsibility for care. This chapter also discusses the neoliberal trend away from support for care and maternalism toward ‘employment for all’ regardless of care and support responsibilities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Care and Support Rights After Neoliberalism
Balancing Competing Claims Through Policy and Law
, pp. 23 - 43
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • A Feminist Dilemma
  • Yvette Maker, University of Melbourne
  • Book: Care and Support Rights After Neoliberalism
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108750479.004
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  • A Feminist Dilemma
  • Yvette Maker, University of Melbourne
  • Book: Care and Support Rights After Neoliberalism
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108750479.004
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • A Feminist Dilemma
  • Yvette Maker, University of Melbourne
  • Book: Care and Support Rights After Neoliberalism
  • Online publication: 21 April 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108750479.004
Available formats
×