When Care Work and Paid Work Collide

By Rachael Goodman and Sarah Kaplan

There is a great deal of rhetoric about the importance of including women in the economy.  Governments, NGOs, and consulting firms alike emphasize the increased economic prosperity that can come from women participating in the labor market. Unfortunately, most of those organizations ignore the existing unpaid care work that already fills many women’s days. For women to participate in formal jobs, they must find others who can take on their care work at home. This is where extended family systems can help.

Extended family systems, like polygamous marriages and joint families, are sometimes seen as oppressive for women, especially from the perspective of cultures where nuclear families are the norm. Young women often have little formal power in these systems, and stories of abuse circulate widely in the media. But for the people who live in these families, they can just as often be important sources of support that help women balance their paid work and unpaid care responsibilities. In places without social safety nets or affordable domestic help, extended family networks are essential to women’s ability to work both inside and outside the home.

Full article in Stanford Social Innovation Review: When Care Work and Paid Work Collide