|
Call for papers: New Work New Problems? Gender Perspectives on the Transformation of WorkCfP new work 221103 (2)In the aftermath of the pandemic
: The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted various contradictions:
whereas opportunities for gender equality have emerged, like the implementation of innovative family-
friendly measures in some economic sectors or companies, not all employees take advantage from this
situation, leaving to paradoxical effects and unintended consequences of workplace innovations. Gender, in
interaction with function, position, education or migration status plays a significant role. Further, the care
gap between men and women has widened during the pandemic. Especially single parents and people caring
for children and adults in need were affected most negatively by lockdown and quarantines. It became clear,
once again, that care work is essential, and that economic growth is inevitably based on unpaid and poorly
paid care work largely performed by women. Whether this new visibility might lead to a revaluation of care
work has yet to be seen.
Global dependencies and power
: The pandemic also highlighted the global dependencies, hierarchies,
and the privileges of the Global North (e.g., broken care chains by live-in caregivers, supply shortages of
protective material, shuttle migration). The changes in the global division of labor and migration regimes
are also structured by gender and other dimensions of inequalities. The last years have served as a large-
scale experiment of remote working. New "anywhere jobs", traditionally performed by a few highly skilled
workers, no longer recognize geographical boundaries, and can be outsourced to countries in the Global
South.
Towards greater gender justice:
"New work" may reveal a potential for fairer living conditions and life
chances. Recent figures from Switzerland show that the demand for greater social recognition and
remuneration of unpaid care work is high. This brings a well-known feminist claim to the fore: instead of
primarily focusing on paid employment, there is a need for a broader understanding of work. Whether the
current transformations will eventually lead to the emancipatory sense of "new work" and to greater gender
justice, or whether the problematic trends towards precarity, exploitation, and work intensification will
prevail, is a complex question.
Dostları ilə paylaş: |
|
|