Care is gendered

The gender composition of the care sector is interesting yet, to many, unsurprising. As with countless other industries, gender stereotypes are difficult to shake when it comes to care as women are often perceived to be more caring by nature. These gender imbalances are rife within all aspects of care including social and informal care as over 80% of carers in these industries are women.

There are several reasons for the unequal distribution of care responsibility. Firstly, the traditional (and frankly outdated) model of male breadwinner and female caregiver is still continually being reinforced throughout society. Whilst there have been huge strides forward, (as I’m sure you would agree), we still have a long way to go in stamping out the stereotypes. Coupled with the fact that the majority of elderly people requiring care are women, it is the female members of the family who are typically allocated care responsibilities when they arise.

What’s the issue?

You may be thinking, why does it actually matter that there are a higher proportion of female informal carers?

Well, the main concern is that this imbalance just further exacerbates the gender employment gap, creating an even higher disparity in the highest paying jobs.

How?

Typically, informal care duties are most intense when women are between the ages of 40-60. These are the years where their parents’ generation reach their older years and are more in need of care from their loved ones. For many women, these are some of the most successful years of their careers. However, juggling work responsibilities and caring for a loved one can be detrimental in many ways. It is often seen as a woman’s duty to provide care for her family and even despite this, these women are not given the appropriate support within the workplace. Due to this, their careers and productivity will suffer as this is not usually taken into account in the workplace. These pressures can cause huge strains on mental and emotional wellbeing. In some cases, informal carers are forced to leave work entirely in order to care for a loved one.

Whilst this is definitely not to say that there are no male informal carers, it is of high importance to acknowledge the imbalance and act upon it.

Strategies for change

Strategies to share the load of informal care come from multiple angles. Firstly, it is imperative that employers provide the appropriate support for all of their working informal carers, that’s where WeAreWeMa steps in:

By supporting employees through their informal care challenges, WeMa provides solutions to the challenges discussed above and more. WeMa services are built to support informal carers through their (sometimes tough) journeys. It is this support that can change everything for a large proportion of women in the workforce. By drastically reducing the mental and emotional pressures caused by informal caring, we can (over time) work to close the gender employment gap.

Secondly, there are calls to eradicate stereotypes by promoting male carers and reinforcing ideas that providing care is not something that is exclusive to women. By supporting and promoting the idea that men are just as equipped to deal with challenges such as caring for a loved one, we are putting ourselves in a better position to eradicate gender stereotypes once and for all- in informal care at least! It is important for us to understand and acknowledge these challenges to begin to overcome them.