Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2014, 15 (2): 19-32 | DOI: 10.13060/12130028.2014.15.2.128

Caring Women's Precarious Work in the Context of Economic Crisis

Radka Dudová¹, Hana Hašková¹

¹ Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.

Caring Women's Precarious Work in the Context of Economic Crisis
Abstract: In this article the authors examine the forms and experiences of insecure and precarious work by Czech women caring for a child or a dependent family member. The results of a quantitative survey indicate that the share of caring women performing precarious work increased during the economic crisis. A secondary analysis of interviews conducted in 2006-2013 with women caring for a child or another family member offered insight into the forms precarious work can take and the ways women feel about this kind of work and why. It also demonstrated in what way, based on the capability approach, their explanations provide a better understanding of the nature and extent of precarious work among women with care responsibilities. We found that the ways caring women view ad-hoc work fit along a continuum, ranging from an optimal temporary strategy, to a temporary solution in the absence of other options, and finally to feelings of being caught in a precarious work trap. This continuum can be extrapolated into a kind of 'collective story': a woman first 'chooses' ad-hoc work as a temporary strategy to get a job; if her life conditions are difficult she must continue to perform such work against her preferences; after a long period of economic inactivity or of performing just temporary work, the woman is ultimately unable to find any secure form of employment, even if she is no longer restricted by care responsibilities - she ends up trapped in precarious work.

Keywords: precarious work, care, capabilities, economic crisis

Published: June 1, 2014  Show citation