Abstract

REFLECTIONS ON PRODUCTIVITY: WOMEN’S UNPAID HEALTH CARE GIVING WORK

Gloria Geller

Health care restructuring has been going on in Saskatchewan since the mid-1980s. Public funding of various components of the health care system have been reduced and closure of hospitals across the province have resulted in the loss of health care workers and the concomitant offloading of care giving work onto “the family” and private sector health care providers. Both categories are overwhelmingly characterized by women’s labour. A growing body of literature argues that this ungendered policy approach has the effect of appropriating the unpaid labour of women in the ‘private sphere’ while reducing the number of ‘good’ jobs in the public health care sector, historically dominated by women.

Women’s unpaid labour is invisible to those who calculate productivity and hence is seldom a subject of policy analysis, while women’s ‘caring’ labour in the workforce is often undervalued by government. It is important to challenge conventional measures of productivity as predominantly monetised activity and the underlying assumptions that underpin economic policies. An alternative definition of productivity includes activities that enhance social cohesion, development and social well-being.

As part of a larger research agenda on rethinking productivity, research has been conducted on the effects of health reform on women’s health care giving work, both paid and unpaid. For the purposes of this paper, the “invisible” and unpaid care giving work of women is discussed. Interviews were conducted with 17 women who have provided care for a family member or friend. The findings of this research are considered with respect to issues related to productivity and to the implications of health reform and restructuring in Canada. Did Romanow get it right?

Bio

Gloria Geller is a member of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina. Her current research is on the effects of health care reform on women’s health care giving work, the integration needs of immigrant and refugee women and supportive housing needs of women dealing with mental health issues.

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