Vulnerabilities in Paid Care Work
Transnational Experiences, Insights and Voices
Edited by Sophie Bowlby, Marjut Jyrkinen, Kathy Sanderson and Mandisa Malinga
Published
Jan 1, 2025Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1447373032Dimensions
203 x 127 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Jan 1, 2025Page count
192 pagesISBN
978-1447373049Dimensions
203 x 127 mmImprint
Policy Press
The need for paid care workers to provide professional, good quality care for those needing daily support continues to grow throughout the world.
This book explores the recent experiences of diverse paid care workers in four very different national contexts – Finland, Canada, South Africa and England – to learn from their experiences during COVID-19 and its aftermath. Drawing on care workers’ own perspectives, this book shows how recruitment and retention of paid care workers remains challenging due to the pandemic and demographic changes, their precarious labour market position, low pay and the difficulties of delivering care.
Sophie Bowlby is Honorary Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Reading, UK. Her research interests are in geographies of informal and formal care work and friendship.
Marjut Jyrkinen is Professor of Working Life Equality and Gender Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests relate to gender, age, care and careers in management and organisations.
Mandisa Vallentia Malinga is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research interests include gender, precarious work and its impact on masculinities and fatherhood and care work.
Kathy Sanderson is Associate Professor of Human Resources in the Faculty of Business Administration at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada. Her research focuses on reducing pain in the workplace.
1. Care and Vulnerabilities: Ideas, Concepts and Methods – Marjut Jyrkinen, Sophie Bowlby, Mandisa Malinga and Ryan Hron
2. Vulnerabilities in the Lives of Older and Younger Domiciliary Care Workers During a Cost-of-Living Crisis -Caitlin Bawn, Sophie Bowlby, Linda McKie and Dilesh Shah
3. Gender, Migration and Its Intersections: Domestic Workers’ Stories of Care – Carmine Rustin, Floretta Boonzaier and Mandisa Malinga
4. Autonomy and Relationships: Long-Term Retention of Home Care Workers – Kathy Sanderson and Ryan Hron
5. Vulnerabilities in Care Work: Perspectives of Foreign-Born and LGBT Care Workers – Tytti Steel, Jukka Lehtonen, Marjut Jyrkinen and Liina Lohikoski
6. Conclusion: Reconceptualizing Precarity and Agency: New Ways Forward – Kathy Sanderson, Cailtin Bawn, Floretta Boonzaier and Jukka Lehtonen
