Care work

Care work is a sub-category of work that includes all tasks that directly involve care processes done in service of others. It is often differentiated from other forms of work because it is considered to be intrinsically motivated, meaning that people are motivated to pursue care work for reasons other than financial compensation. Another factor that is often used to differentiate caring labor from other types of work is the motivating factor. This perspective defines care labor as labor undertaken out of affection or a sense of responsibility for other people, with no expectation of immediate pecuniary reward. Regardless of motivation, care work includes care activities done for pay as well as those done without remuneration.

Care work refers to those occupations that provide services that help people develop their capabilities, or the ability to pursue the aspects of their lives that they value. Examples of these occupations include child care, all levels of teaching (from preschool through university professors), and health care of all types (nurses, doctors, physical therapists and psychologists). Care work also includes the array of domestic unpaid work that is often disproportionately performed by women.

Care work is frequently focused on the responsibility to provide for dependents, such as children, the sick, and the elderly. However, care work also refers to any work done in the immediate service of others, regardless of the recipient’s dependent or nondependent status, and can even extend to "animals and things."

The study of care work is closely linked with the fields of feminist economics and feminist legal theory, and is associated with scholars including Marilyn Waring, Nancy Folbre, Martha Albertson Fineman, Paula England, Maria Floro, Diane Elson, Caren Grown and Virginia Held.

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