Shared Work, Valued Care: New Norms for Organizing Market Work and Unpaid Care Work.

Until the 1970s, social norms dictated that women provided care for their families and men were employed for pay. The rapid increase in paid work for women has resulted in an untenable model of work and care in which all employees are assumed to be unencumbered with family responsibilities and women who care for their families are dismissed as 'just housewives'. A review of practices in Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden (based on interviews with government officials, academics, managers, employees and representatives of unions and employers' associations) suggested new ways for work and care responsibilities to be reorganized. A new "shared work valued care" model might structure behavior by tempering employers' demands and shaping the aspirations of workers. 'Shared work' means sharing good jobs through reduced hours, flexible hours, job sharing and sharing care duties between men and women; 'valued care' encompasses flexible scheduling and making day and elder care a public-private responsibility. Policies that are needed in the United States to facilitate such as change include: (1) hours-of-work legislation; (2) adjustment-of-hours legislation; (3) equal opportunity and non-discrimination; (4) sharing of the cost of care; (5) untying of benefits from individual employers; and (6) updating of income security protections. (Contains 15 endnotes and 8 references.) (CG)