Susan Gregory

Shadow Times The Temporal and Spatial Frameworks and Experiences of Caring and Working

In this article we explore temporal and spatial frameworks for analysing the experience of combining caring for children with participation in paid work. We highlight the pressure to undertake paid employment routinely, which places particular strains upon people who are most likely to have to combine caring and working. The authors assert that mothers continue to have the main responsibility for the organization, if not the conduct, of caring work (Sevenhuijsen, 1998). Traditional assumptions about the seeming relationship between femininity and caring remain relatively intact, despite major shifts in family formation, women’s participation in the labour market and debates about the changing role of men (Cancian and Oliker, 1999; Lister, 1997). Drawing upon the work of Adam (2000) on timescapes we develop the notion of caringscapes as a means by which the processes of combining caring and working may be theorized and also incorporated into UK government policy related to caring (whether directly or indirectly). We draw attention to the inadequacy of public policy that does not incorporate an awareness of the demands of the everyday across the lifecourse, of which a spatial-temporal component should be fundamental. The authors propose a caringscape perspective as a basis for both future research and policy developments and conclude that an enhanced recognition of the fluidity and praxis of caring and gender is necessary to support the evolving roles of parents, especially mothers who combine caring and working.

(Inter)Dependence, Needs and Care The Potential for Disability and Feminist Theorists to Develop an Emancipatory Model

In this article we examine the tensions between feminist and disability studies perspectives on care.We argue that an emancipatory model of care is one that must address these tensions. In developing this model we consider the notions of (inter)dependence and need across the lifecourse. Drawing on the work of Fraser (1989), we propose that the notion of ‘needscape’ can be used to construct a ‘discourse bridge’ that will mediate between the disability studies and feminist perspectives on care. Notions of care and caring have been subject to criticism by feminist and disability theorists.There is a presumption by some that care is an activity to which women are naturally suited and this forms a starting point for the claim associated with the feminist view that care is a source of women’s exploitation. For disability activists notions of care are dis-empowering.The person in receipt of care is often assumed to be passive and dependent. This is exemplified in the limited access of disabled people to choices over the nature and form of the social support that they may need.

Gender, Caring and Employment in Britain

Employment and social policies continue to be based upon a gender template that assumes women, especially mothers, are or should be natural carers. Invariably, policies that seek to promote womens entry to paid work do so by facilitating their management and conduct of caring work, thus reinforcing the gender template. In addition, contemporary debates around concepts of citizenship emphasise the obligation to paid employment but fail to tackle the gendered division of caring activities and organisation of care. Enhanced access to childcare merely recreates the gender template by promoting low paid jobs for women as paid carers who are predominantly providing care services for other women. The provision of unpaid paternity leave is unlikely to challenge the strong association between femininity, mothering and care work. In this article we explore notions of caring, home and employment. It is argued that ambivalence exists amongst policy makers, employers, and society more generally, towards the gendered nature of caring and the implications of this for women, and men who wish to care, who are in paid employment. These are old issues and the authors consider why change in social and public policies is so slow. The authors argue that a consideration of gender and equality principles, currently largely absent from welfare and employment policies, and debates on notions of citizenship, should form the basis for the development of future strategies to support parents and children.

If the Food Looks Dodgy I Dinnae Eat It : teenagers' accounts of food and eating practices in socio-economically disadvantaged families

This paper examines how young teenagers living in socio-economically disadvantaged families perceive everyday food and eating practices within the home. From in-depth interviews with 36 Scottish teenagers aged 13-14 years, we analysed teenagers’ accounts of contemporary ‘family meals’. We found that food and eating practices were negotiated amidst complex family arrangements with extended, resident and non-resident kin. Parents were often reported to provide food ‘on demand’, a flexible arrangement which seemed to reflect both teenagers’ and parents’ lifestyles and personal relationships. Teenagers often contested the consumption of particular foods which sometimes reflected and reinforced their relationship with a biological or non-biological parent. Teenagers could differentiate themselves from others through their food preferences and tastes and food consumption therefore helped shaped their identity. Many teenagers claimed that parents set rules regarding food and eating, thereby creating boundaries within which their consumption choices had to remain. We discuss whether and how these findings are a reflection of the socio-economic status of the participating families and conclude that exploring food and eating practices is a powerful lens for the examination of family life.

Gender, Power and the Household

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors THEORETICAL ISSUES Gender and the Household L.McKie, S.Bowlby and S.Gregory Gendering the Household: Some Theoretical Considerations D.Morgan GENDERED CARE Men in the Household: Caring Fathers V.Duindan Roles and Responsibilities for Food Within Families S.Gregory The Negotiation of Coping: Gender and the Onset of Disablement in Marriage J.Seymour GENDERED TIME AND SPACE A Fight for Her Time: Challenges Facing Professional Mothers J.Stephens Negotiating the Home and the School: Low Income, Lone Mothering and Unpaid School Work K.Standing Oh Please Mum. Oh Please Dad: Negotiating Childrens Spatial Boundaries G.Valentine Intra-Household Power Relations and Their Impact on Womens Leisure S.Gilroy GENDERED WORK, INCOME AND POWER Unequal Partners: Inequality in Earnings and Independent Income within Marriage S.Arber Decision-Making in Dual Career Households I.Hardill, A.Dudleston and D.Owen Sexing the Enterprise: Gender, and Resource Allocation in Self Employed Households A.Corden and T.Eardley Index

Starting well: Gender, care and health in the family context

In this article we present a critique of a series of public policy documents that aim at improvement in health for the general population, particularly families, but fail to recognize or appreciate the implications of gender for the everyday and the long-term experiences of family members. Drawing upon considerations of gender, families, health, time and space, and previous theoretical work (McKie et al., 2002), we propose the concept of ‘healthscapes’ to aid the analysis and development of public policies. A healthscapes approach allows analysis of health policy within the diverse and multi-dimensional notions of time, space and gender that infuse the lifecourse. We assert that consideration of the gendered and generational project of caring, particularly in relation to the (re)production of health, should involve a reflective inter-play between theory, research and policy.

Self-help groups for patients with coronary heart disease as a resource for rehabilitation and secondary prevention-what is the evidence?

Cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) is a major health care concern worldwide. Maintaining regular cardiac rehabilitation attendance and secondary-prevention strategies are significant health care challenges. Although self-help groups provide benefit for many chronic health conditions, it is not clear if they address the challenges of CHD rehabilitation and self-management. This literature review was guided by the following question: Can self-help groups address the challenges of CHD rehabilitation and self-management? This article reviews the traditional published and grey literature on CHD-related self-help groups identified from a database search (Cochrane Library, PubMed, PsychINFO, Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, and Social Sciences Citation Index). Identified articles were screened based on the type of initiative: Community-based non-health service-organized groups were included, but hospital-based group treatment and therapy interventions or programs were excluded. Published research and analysis of CHD-related self-help groups is scarce. Sixteen articles focusing on self-help groups were identified. The review results indicate that the limited quantity, limited range, and variable quality of studies prevents reliable conclusions being made regarding effects and outcomes as well as the extent and profile of participation. Strengthening the evidence base regarding the impact of CHD-related self-help groups, the reasons for participation versus nonparticipation in such groups, and determining nonparticipants support needs must be done to establish if and for which patients such groups constitute an effective resource for rehabilitation and secondary prevention.

Connecting Gender, Power and the Household

Theoretical and empirical research on gender, the family and the household has tended to focus upon work conducted within the home, and the negotiation and allocation of resources within households (Oakley, 1974a; Whitehead, 1981; Harris, 1984; Pahl, 1984; Berk, 1985; Morris, 1985; Brannen and Wilson, 1987; Mansfield and Collard, 1988; Van Every, 1995). The origins of many of these studies can be traced to Oakley’s work in the early 1970s which heralded a new approach to research on women, the home, and (paid) work. Oakley’s study of housework not only concerned an examination of the housewife role but also the division of labour in the household and ideologies of domesticity (Oakley, 1974a; Oakley, 1974b). She argued that ‘the kitchen is the symbol of women’s domesticity, and the lifelong activities and identities of women outside the kitchen are determined and defined by their domesticity’ (Oakley, 1974a: 222). Change in women’s role would only follow, Oakley argued, from the abolition of the housewife role, the family and gender roles. At the time this was considered a radical approach to the study of gender and the household and it was one which placed and re-emphasized conceptions of the household, power and hierarchy between men and women as central to the analysis of women in society.

A qualitative study exploring why people do not participate in cardiac rehabilitation and coronary heart disease self-help groups, and their rehabilitation experience without these resources.

BACKGROUNDnSecondary prevention and self-management of coronary heart disease (CHD) are of major importance to people who survive myocardial infarction (MI). This can be facilitated by cardiac rehabilitation (CR; the formal health service programme) and informal CHD self-help groups. Non-participation is an important issue, yet it is poorly understood. Rehabilitation difficulties and prevention challenges have been identified among people following MI, but the particular experience and perspective of CR and CHD group non-participants are largely unknown.nnnAIMnThe study aimed to understand non-participation in CR and CHD self-help groups from the perspectives of the non-participants and to provide insight into their experience and that of their significant others in rehabilitating in the absence of these resources.nnnMETHODSnIn-depth interviews were conducted with 27 people who had not participated in either hospital-based CR or a CHD group, 6-14 months post-MI, and 17 significant others in Lothian, Scotland.nnnFINDINGSnFactors influencing non-participation fell into three broad themes No need/no point, Not worth it, and Not possible. In the latter two categories, non-participation in these resources was often considered a missed opportunity and needs had remained unmet. Shifts between categories could occur over time. Non-participation was linked to rehabilitation difficulties for some people and family members. Recommendations to enhance post-MI support are made.