Abstract
It is widely assumed that one of the most visible legacies of the second wave women’s movement has been a radical transformation of expectations regarding the gender division of employment and, to a lesser extent, unpaid care activities. However, some recent feminist research has stressed the unintended consequences of the claims made in the final decades of the twentieth century for women’s ‘emancipation through employment’ under what has sometimes been called the ‘paid work paradigm’ for gender equality (Méda and Périvier, 2007; Lewis 2003, 2007). In European policy terms, there are now quite clear signs of a shift from measures predicated on women’s widespread exclusion from the labour market to policies explicitly aimed at encouraging their continuous employment over the life-course (Jenson, 2008, 2009). However, this shift has been received with ambivalence in feminist circles, notably due to its potentially divisive effects on women as a social group and to its ineffectiveness in transforming the gender division of (paid and unpaid) care activities more generally. Despite the partial shift ‘from private to public reproduction’1 (Hernes, 1987), the main burden of care activities continues to fall principally on women’s shoulders (Bambra, 2007), but not necessarily equally on women of different social and racial origins, and not necessarily to the same extent in all national contexts.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
The differences in the issues covered in grass-roots and academic publications is a rather surprising, particularly given the widespread tendency for Women’s Studies activists to present themselves as the ‘academic arm’ of the women’s movement. See Judith Ezekiel, Feminism in the Heartland (Dayton: Ohio State University Press, 2002), 339.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2012 Nicky Le Feuvre, Rune Ervik, Anna Krajewska and Milka Metso
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Le Feuvre, N., Ervik, R., Krajewska, A., Metso, M. (2012). Remaking Economic Citizenship in Multicultural Europe: Women’s Movement Claims and the ‘Commodification of Elderly Care’. In: Halsaa, B., Roseneil, S., Sümer, S. (eds) Remaking Citizenship in Multicultural Europe. Citizenship, Gender and Diversity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137272157_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137272157_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-32511-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-27215-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)