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Caring for a living: should women care less?
Flexibility in care work may suit women, but does it provide security?
There is a trend towards casual work in the care sector, to ensure flexibility and 24-hour, 7-day cover, particularly amongst large care providers. What about security? A spokesperson for Unison, the public sector workers union outlined the chief concerns when it comes to short-term contracts. ‘Because care workers are more likely to be employed on temporary contracts, as part of a bank staff and on short hours there are particular issues they need to be aware of. Although flexible hours might suit women with children, and the majority of staff in care work are paid similar hourly rates to permanent staff, they are not entitled to holidays, sick pay or pensions.’ Clearly, this is a serious issue for women as their lifetime earnings are vastly affected simply by undertaking agency work.
So the bottom line is, pensions mean security – women without one are not in a secure position, when it comes to their financial future.
Where’s the value?
Are women simply paid less in these positions because the roles aren’t valued? Or is it that roles are undervalued because women fill them? It sounds like a catch-22 situation. What we do know is that women will bear the brunt of low pay and inferior terms and conditions of employment, because of their tendency towards short-term contracts, instead of permanent jobs.
Don’t forget, the backdrop to all this is unemployment. When there is a large pool of workers, agencies can pick and choose, and this keeps wages low. More and more care work is contracted out, and this can only mean one thing – the private sector will compete on the basis of cost. Once again, the workers, most of whom are women, will be paid the minimum.
Julia Portman has worked in the care sector for 8 years. ‘I know that I can dip in and out of care work. So I choose short-term contracts. This suits me, as I can earn more money in short bursts, and it is more flexible. I am contributing to really deprived people in society, which makes me feel good, and I’m earning more than I could on a supermarket check-out. The downside is that, one day off sick means I lose out on money, and I never have paid holidays. So it’s good and bad,’ states Portman.
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