S8. Professionalism in care professions: still a gender issue?

Abstract

Care professions, namely childcare 0-3 and elderly care, have been expanding steadily in correspondence with the increased labour market participation of women. Care, which was once performed for free by women within families, has now become an expertise in its own, with processes of professionalization consolidating in most of the advanced capitalist countries. In fact, the turn of Social Investment has given more centrality to what was once considered a “women” job and, as such, degraded to a semi-profession. However, relatively few studies have investigated the impact of these changes on professionalism and its complex relationship with the gender segregation that characterise both childcare 0-3 and elderly care.

This session welcomes empirical and theoretical contributions that focuses on professionalism, professionalization and gender segregation in care professions. We invite studies that empirically analyse how practitioners in childcare 0-3 or elderly care claims/build their professionalism, as a single case study or in a comparative perspective, as well as theoretical reflections on the consequence of professionalization on them. Studies that investigate the gendered nature of this profession (with quantitative or qualitative techniques) are particularly welcomed – especially if applying an intersectional analytical framework.

Organizer

Lara Maestripieri, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, lara.maestripieri@uab.cat.

Brief bio

Lara Maestripieri is an economic sociologist, specialised in the analysis of social policies. She is distinguished researcher “Ramon y Cajal” at IGOP/Department of Political Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her research interests concern social change in post-industrial society and, in particular, social innovation in public policies, economic insecurity in Southern European countries, and emerging professions. She is the Vice President of ISA RC52 “Sociology of Professional Groups” board.