Caring For / Caring About — Women, Home Care and Unpaid Caregiving

Karen R. Grant, Carol Amaratunga, Pat Armstrong, Madeline Boscoe, Ann Pederson, and Kay Willson (editors)

A volume in the Health Care in Canada Series. General Editor: Pat Armstrong, York University

The Canadian health care system is undergoing steady change, but one thing that remains constant is the key role that women play in providing care. Women are estimated to be comprise nearly 80% of both the paid and unpaid care workers in this country. Yet, their numbers do not coincide with their influence. Government reforms such as the introduction of market systems in health care may result in some cost efficiencies, but not necessarily better working conditions for those who care, much less better care for those who need it. Similarly, the increasing transfer of patients into community care may mean that individuals are able to convalesce in more familiar surroundings and with the people they love, but the added burden on family members — usually women — may mean forgone paid work, not to mention changes in personal relationships between those who care and those who are cared for and about.

A volume in the Health Care in Canada series, which starts from the standpoint of providers and patients rather than that of doctors and deficits.

Other volumes include:

- Vital Signs: Nursing in Transition
- Take Care: Warning Signals for Canada's Health System
- Medical Alert: New Work Organizations in Health Care »
- Heal Thyself: Managing Health Care Reform »
- Exposing Privatization: Women and Health Care Reform in Canada »

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