Full Description
Magazine articles, talk shows, and commercials advise us that our happiness and well-being rest on striking a balance between work and family. It goes unsaid, however, that the advice is based on an outmoded and unrealistic ideal.
This volume reopens the work-life balance debate. Contributors argue that to truly resolve work-family issues, we must recognize work and family life as overlapping aspects of a single existence, rather than separate and competing spheres. A Life in Balance? transcends prevailing myths by revealing how paid work (employment) and unpaid work (caregiving and housework) continue to be set against each other, particularly in support of neo-liberal agendas. A truly equitable national childcare policy must be informed by alternative approaches to integrating family and paid work, such as stay-at-home fathers, family policy in Quebec, and work and care in Aboriginal communities.
Contents
Introduction: Diversifying the Model, Demystifying the Approach: The Work-Family Debate Reopened / Catherine Krull and Justyna Sempruch
Part 1: Transcending the Prevailing Myths
1 Destabilizing the Nuclear Family Ideal: Thinking Beyond Essentialisms, Universalism, and Binaries / Catherine Krull
2 Intergenerational Care Work: Mothering, Grandmothering, and Eldercare / Nancy Mandell and Sue Wilson
3 Maternal Employment, Childcare, and Public Policy / Maureen Baker
Part 2: Integrating Family and Work
4 Work, Care, Resistance, and Mothering: An Indigenous Perspective / Donna Baines and Bonnie Freeman
5 "I Am the Patient and Compassionate Cashier": Learning through Unpaid Household Work for Paid Work / Margrit Eichler
6 Employment in the New Economy and the Impact on Canadian Families / Ann Duffy and Norene Pupo
7 What Impedes Fathers' Participation in Care Work? Theorizing the Community as an Institutional Arena / Andrea Doucet
8 Addressing the Interlocking Complexity of Paid Work and Care: Lessons from Changing Family Policy in Quebec / Patrizia Albanese
Part 3: Feminist-Informed Family Initiatives and Family Visions
9 Beyond the "Cultural" Landscape of Care: Queering Childcare, Caregiver, and Work / Justyna Sempruch
10 Working-Time Regimes, Flexibility, and Work-Life Balance: Gender Equality and Families / Judy Fudge
11 The Increasing Invisibility of Mothering / Margaret Hillyard Little
Epilogue: A Feminist Vision for Caring-Employment Integration in Canada / Susan A. McDaniel
References; List of Contributors; Index
