Caring?is Culturally Defined As Being ?natural? For Women? (Finch And Groves, 1983). Critically Disc Essay, Research Paper
An increasing ageing population has led to a greater
emphasis on the role of informal carers in providing support for older and
disabled people (Twigg: 1996).? So what
is caring?? Cancian et al (2000)
describe care giving as feelings of affection and responsibility combined with
actions that provide responsively for an individuals personal needs or well
being.? A carer is anyone, irrespective
of age, whose life is in some way restricted because of the need to take
responsibility for the care of a person who has mental health problems, learning
disabilities, is physically disabled or whose health is impaired by sickness or
who is elderly and frail (Cancian et al 2000).?
Britain has an estimated 5.7 million carers and one in six
households contains a carer.? The
numbers of carers providing support for more than 20 or more hours every week
has increased from 1.5 million to 1.7 million since 1990.? In the Northwest 17% of adults – the highest
proportion in the UK ? are carers (General Household Survey: 1995).? It is estimated that there are 51,000 young
people under the age of 18 who are carers.?
Accurate figures are difficult to obtain due to the hidden nature of
caring.? The average age for becoming a
carer is between 45 to 64 (Travers: 1996).?
Higher proportions of women (14%) than men (11%) are carers.? Family, friends and relatives are the UK?s
5.7 million carers who provide most health and community care. Social Services
and the NHS rely on carer?s willingness and ability to provide care. This care
is worth an estimated £34 billion per year (General Household Survey: 1995).? This essay will discuss arguments for and against women
carers who are traditionally seen as ?natural? carers in both formal and
informal sectors.? A general overview of
caring will be taken and arguments will be from both formal and informal
sectors of caring.? The arguments will
be supported through studies that highlight explanations and evidence for women
carers.? In contrast, a discussion about
men as caregivers and why they are the ?forgotten carers? will be
emphasised.? In addition, evidence for
men as caregivers and if apathy towards men carers aggravates women?s roles as
?natural? carers will also be discussed.?
In conclusion to this essay, suggestions about how gender inequality can
be reduced in caregiving will be analysed. Caring is closely linked to gender.? Consistent finding on family research
suggests that vast majority of carers for friends and relatives with chronic
disabilities are women.? Despite changes
in society over the past few decades, women still do most of the unpaid and
paid caregiving and their feelings and actions of care are naturally associated
with them (Lee: 1998).? Cancian et al (2000) explains the ?naturalness? of women
carers with two explanations: biological and social.? The biological explanation suggests that the sex differences and
deep seated psychological differences that develop in early childhood between
men and women explain why women are culturally seen as?? ?natural? carers.? Women have the hormones or instincts to provide emotional and
physical care, whilst men have the hormones or instincts to provide good
economical support within the family.?
Marks (1997) also supports this argument by suggesting that men have a
two-fold role within the family.?
Firstly they provide the resources needed to make the home a safer place
and secondly a male?s task in later stage of baby?s development is to introduce
the baby to the outside world and help the mother and infant to separate.? However the explanation by Marks (1997) is
of a patronising nature, as she does not appreciate women?s efforts to shift
the patriarchal structures of caregiving especially after
industrialisation.? The social explanation by Cancian (2000) suggests that
cultural beliefs and economic opportunities shape how carers are perceived by
society.? Both men and women would focus
on caring rather than focusing on alternate activities if caring was not
devalued by society and if men carers were seen as a ?real man? and women
carers as a ?good woman? by the society (Cancian et al: 2000, Walker: 1992).? In contrast, Jones (1994) suggests that
caring is socially constructed activity which is connected to women? s
biology.? Women are exploited as unpaid
carers of children, dependants and male partners and therefore they are
excluded from power and authority in the public domain.? This social justification is found in
essentialist arguments about natural, biological and functions of women.? The patriarchal oppression has also led women
to do majority of caring in both inside and outside the family (Jones 1994). ?In contrast to Cancian?s (2000) explanations for women as
natural carers, Finley (1989) described four explanatory models for why it is
?natural? for women to do the majority of caring.? The time available hypothesis suggests that the competing roles
and time demands, restrict the amount of time that is available for caring. The
external resources hypothesis predicts that assets achieved externally i.e.
education, occupation and income determine the power dynamics within the
family.? On the other side of the
spectrum, the gender role socialisation suggests that gender role attitudes
learned in the socialisation process influence the gender division in
caring.? The specialisation of tasks
suggests that women and men perform different but complimentary tasks to
maximise the well being of the family (Finley: 1989).The research conducted by Finley (1989) explored if the
four models were adequate in explaining why women are more likely to be
involved in caregiving.? The results
were profound.? The data reveals that
neither the external hypothesis nor the time available hypothesis accounts for
the gender differences in caregiving.?
In terms of task specialisation, Finley (1989) concludes that men are do
not specialise in certain types of tasks and females are more likely than males
to provide help.? The study also
concludes that gender socialisation is the best explanation for why women are
seen as natural carers.??? Heenan (2000) who conducted a study on women as informal
carers in Northern Ireland, more than a decade later supported Finley?s
conclusion.? The results were unchanged
and therefore shows the patriarchal nature of caring.? The study acknowledged that majority of research conducted on
women carers is quantitative and is therefore limited.? Heenan (2000) conducted a qualitative study
to explore the intrinsic reasons for why women do majority of caregiving. The
finding suggested that the women who were interviewed perceived caring as
natural and unquestionable.? Caring is
dependable on a set of cultural expectations and norms and the acceptance of a
caring role is often related to complicated social expectations and
obligations.? This is supported by
Chamberlayne et al (1997) who concludes, that women are caught up in the
complexities of familial relationships, a web of hidden gendered pressures
concerning conflicting ties of obligation and affection.?? The women interviewed also believed that they were
returning the help they were given by their relatives and that caring is ?part
and parcel of marrying a farmer? (Heenan: 2000).? The women felt that being seen as a ?natural? carer was a vicious
circle and they could not relate to the description of their role.? They were therefore socialised into the
thought that caring was something that is not thought about or analysed as a
distinctive part of their lives and being a carer was meaningless.? Finch and Mason (1993) who noted giving and
receiving care as unremarkable supported this notion. Cancian (2000) also suggests
that the devaluation of care becomes institutionalised and it persists in the
routine roles and practices that contemporary organisations inherit and
repeat.? Parson (1967) theory suggests
that norms are consensual.? People agree
to the norms to avoid a disordered society.?
Functionalists also believe that the process of socialisation reproduces
?successful? and ?ordered? individuals to reproduce a ?ordered? society
(Parsons: 1967).? However, the study by
Heenan (2000), fails to specify how the men in the family see the patriarchal
nature of caregiving, which would have given an unbiased overview of why women
are seen as ?natural? carers from a male?s perspective.?? Important criticisms of the above arguments emerged during
the 1990?s, which suggested that, substantially more men were involved in
caring than previously thought.? Men are
caring out a wide range of caring roles involving many hours per week (Fisher:
1994).? Evidence suggests that despite
women being the predominant carers, both men and women have an equal chance of
being a carer in a spousal relationship.?
Therefore in the selection of the carer gender differences may be
outweighed by the
be self concerned when someone is in need whilst men are less likely to be
responsive to someone else?s need.?
However, more research is needed on the nature of male caregivers.Despite the explanations and evidence for and against
women as ?natural? carers, evidence suggests that there are a majority of men
who are also involved in both aspects for caregiving.? The theory highlighted above can be challenged with subsequent
research into male caregivers.? This
part of the essay will provide evidence for why men are seen as the ?forgotten
carers? and if apathy towards men carers exaggerates the statement made by
Finch and Groves (1983).? Men are changing, redefining and reinventing
themselves.? Men are increasing in
numbers within the caring professions most notably nursing and individual men have
demonstrated these caring behaviours through child care and by having closer
relationships with their children (Sabo et al: 1995).? Perkins et al (1993) and Squires (1995) have found that men are
entering nursing often at a similar age as women and their desire to care for
others was found to be a recurrent theme as well as job security, empowerment
and power as a professional.?? According to Sabo et al (1995) men remain the ?forgotten
carers? because their considerable contribution to care often go unrecognised
and there are three assumptions to support why men are the forgotten
carers.? Firstly men are unlikely to be
primary caregivers, secondly older men receive more support from formal and
voluntary services than women carers do and thirdly when men do engage in a
caregiving role they are more likely to obtain informal support from others
than women (Sabo et al: 1995).? The traditional masculine identity also continues to
possess the modern man.? This identity
is found in oppressive practises that affect women, gay men and Black men.? Within nursing, traditional masculine men
are achieving positions of power in ever increasing numbers and it is not
unreasonable to suggest that these men have tended to suppress their caring
instincts in order to maintain their traditional masculine roles (Davies:
1995).? Chodorow (1978) also supports
this argument and suggests that men learn work values through gender
socialisation by becoming separate, controlling feelings and to valuing
rationality.? Men have the ability to
care however they need to be shown how.?
Sexism, racism and homophobia need to be continually challenged if
caring is to achieve any authenticity (Davies: 1995).???? To conclude women are still seen as ?natural? carers due
to the norms and ?acceptable? behaviours set by the society.? Women face the burden of caring in both
formal and informal sectors, due to the ageing population and the socialisation
process, which see caring as ?natural? for women.? Walker (1992) suggests that the predominance of women carers has
been traditionally explained at an individual level and gender equity has been
ignored.? Walker (1992) & Jones
(1994) also suggests that the naturalness of the arrangement of women carers have
been defended by the assumptions that women have closer emotional ties to
family members and caring is central to women?s perceptions of themselves as
?good women?.? However men are not far
behind.? They too are involved in both
formal and informal caring, but their efforts are not widely acknowledged by
the society, government or the NHS who rely so heavily on informal carers to
provide majority of the care.? More
research is also needed in the status of male caregivers and how caregiving
differs between the two sexes (Sabo et al: 1995).??? Cancian (2000) suggest four ways to lessen the gender
inequality between carers: to build recognition of the value of caregiving,
support and complement family caregiving with a system of social care, reward
paid and unpaid caregiving on the same levels as other productive work and
other duties of citizenship and to create gender equality in opportunities and
obligations to care.? Hooyman &
Gonyea (1995) also suggest that validation of women?s experiences as caregivers,
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