Policy Press

Vulnerabilities in Paid Care Work

Transnational Experiences, Insights and Voices

Edited by Sophie Bowlby, Marjut Jyrkinen, Mandisa Malinga and Kathy Sanderson

Published

Jan 14, 2025

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447373032

Dimensions

203 x 127 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jan 14, 2025

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447373049

Dimensions

203 x 127 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jan 14, 2025

Page count

192 pages

ISBN

978-1447373049

Dimensions

203 x 127 mm

Imprint

Policy Press
Vulnerabilities in Paid Care Work

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, Methods – Marjut Jyrkinen, Sophie Bowlby, Mandisa Malinga and Ryan Hron

2. Valuing Caring: Domiciliary Care Work in England’s ‘Care Crisis’ During and Post COVID-19 - Caitlin Bawn, Sophie Bowlby, Linda McKie and Dilesh Shah

3. Gender, Migration and Their Intersections: Domestic Workers’ Stories of Care in South Africa – Carmine Rustin, Floretta Boonzaier and Mandisa Malinga

4. Understanding the Long-Term Retention of Personal Support Workers in Canadian Home and Long-Term Care – Kathy Sanderson and Ryan Hron

5. Vulnerabilities in Care Work: Perspectives of Migrant and LGBT Care Workers in Finland – Tytti Suominen, Jukka Lehtonen, Marjut Jyrkinen and Liina Lohikoski

6. Reconceptualising Precarity and Agency: New Ways Forward – Kathy Sanderson, Caitlin Bawn, Floretta Boonzaier and Jukka Lehtonen