WORDS USED
The words of a discussion matter. In science and logic, the first part of any research is to agree on the definition of terms. Sadly in the care movement, not all terms are even agreed on- eg. the term ‘work’ It is necessary to agree on terms.
It is useful to also look at terms that are misleading, that may suggest a meaning that is deceptive, such as the use of ‘childcare’ which in some research means care of a child anywhere but in other research means only 3rd party care provided by government.
It is also important to look at terms that have over the years perpetuated stigma. In all other liberation movements, terms that were racist, insults to those with lower IQs, insults to those with certain sexual orientation, insults to those with physical handicaps were identified as so closely linked now to bias that their use was discouraged and in official documents banned as insensitive.
The terms used in the care movement also bear scrutiny. erms that exclude the care role from social status or financial recognition must be addressed.
The care sector however faces a compounding of discriminations- often mixing the devaluing of women with other biases that have crept in.
The poverty of the role may also lead to a discrimination based on income. Since hired caregivers, butlers, maids, hired help, domestic workers have historically often been of a race different from those they served, the recognition of the care role also has implications to confront racism. Those who choose a care style with certain diet or ritual may encounter discrimination for that choice linked to discrimination based on religion.
Tax penalty for certain care styles may have links to discrimination based on marital status. The ones who receive care are often seen as less productive in the economy – the young, sick, handicapped, frail elderly and dying. Discrimination against them as lesser also may have led to devaluing also those who provide their care.
In addressing all of these potential biases, it is helpful to survey the language to see where it may subtly be compounding the problem. Some words used even by advocates for caregiving may be misunderstood by the public.
2. TERMS
access – ability to approach, ease of using the service. Governments
speak of access to a building for the disabled, and access to
medical help, access to clean water, access to education. The
term implies endorsement of a universally agreed on good
thing. Governments do not speak of access to tobacco
products, access to gambling or access to war or explosions.
We may speak of ensuring access to fresh fruit and vegetables,
as a category good for health but we do not speak of ensuring
access to pizza. Pizza is only one type of food, and not
a human right or specific need. However the term ‘access’ is often used by childcare operators
to subtly imply their operation is also a universal good
in the same category as a right. This term usage is not
consistent with equally valid other care styles and government
more fairly could refer also to access to grandparent care,
access to family based care or access to care of a senior
in their own home, but does not. The tilt to only value
paid roles, even for care of others, is an oddity of the
GDP economy.
accountability
When governments fund care of children they often
want to see results for their expenditures, as they
do for any other expenditure of a product purchased.
However the term when applied to care of others
is not as easily tallied for the benefits of good care
of children may take years to show. The benefits
of spending money for birth bonuses or child
dependent deductions, family allowances,
income splitting tax options and pensions for
caregiving years at home, will have results that
may be happy, well adjusted teens who stay in
school and do not get involved in drugs or overuse
of alcohol or tobacco, who have skills to be productive
citizens and who are ethical and honest, contributing
members of society as adults. Asking for quick
return on an investment for children is not logical
accountability
When governments are confronted about why they
fund 3rd party care of others but not family based care
they often give the excuses that they are not able
to investigate care in the home for fear of invasion’
of privacy, so they are not able to set standards
and ensure the wise use of money they invested there.
This idea that parents are unable to show they are
accountable and trustworthy is however misleading.
It is not the same standard used when salaries are paid
to workers who are just then trusted to spend the
money wisely. It is also clear that parents are already
under very stringent standards of accountability
in society and do not need additional monitoring
of how they spend benefits for children. Parents
already are under legal obligation to provide for
their children and supervise them, ensuring their
safety and health and parents are liable not just
to criminal charges for failure to do so, to charges
of abuse and neglect, but also to the very real threat
of losing custody to or even access to the child.
They are already accountable and to deny them funding
is not logical
adoption – permanent taking on of the legal responsibility to
take care of a child. The oddity of that is that in
many countries taking care of the child of another
person as a paid job, as a foster parent or
paid caregiver is seen in the GDP economy as useful
work, even vital work. However once the child is
formally adopted, care of that child is no longer seen
as useful work and falls back into the situation of unpaid
care not financially supported by the state. In some countries
where parents are in dire poverty they may give a child
up for adoption solely to ensure that the child then
is financially more secure. This decision to break
a strong love and emotional bond just because of lack
of money could be seen as sad and vital to address
In the case of single mothers and unwed teen mothers
the dire poverty often motivates girls who themselves
are in financial distress to give up the baby for adoption
solely because there is no financial option for them.
One observer in Canada has suggested that one better
solution may be for adoption of the mother and
her baby together, so both could get financial
support and still be able to be together. To date this
option is not made available however.
aid – should mean help, in practical terms or in terms
of money but in government economies foreign
aid means money
affordable- within reasonable budget limits. However there are several budgets
involved in some situations. When government is asked to provide
affordable 3rd party childcare, this keeps costs low to the family of
that child. However it simultaneously requires government then to
pay higher costs to subsidize the operation so is less affordable
to government the more affordable it is to families. A government
funded childcare system that offers low cost or no cost 3rd party
care often requires all taxpayers to foot the bill, and requires
tax increase for the general population so affordable 3rd party
care to the household may become prohibitively costly to
the nation.
allowance -money given regularly. Parents give children an allowance
of discretionary cash. The term also means allowed limits such
as travellers having permission to carry on board suitcases of
a certain weight allowance. The term in the GDP economy however
is used for cash to offset necessary expenditures, such as a travel
allowance, a health spending allowance. In many countries funding
to parents called a ‘family allowance’ interestingly is cash per child
to help offset some costs of childrearing but also is administered with
some conditions also of what is ‘allowed’ or permitted. Governments often adjust the money allotted to age of child or number of children in the
household but only to a certain family size, with the connotation not only
that the state supports in a small way the outlay of costs, but also that
it is generous to do so and sets boundaries on ideal family size. Such
conditions often work in the reverse of logic so that family allowance
is reduced not increased as a child ages, even though costs of an older
child go up not down and not recognizing additional practical costs
of a large family even though housing costs and number of bedrooms
needed increase significantly with family size.
apprentice – the beginner at developing a skill. In the trades
this designation simply means a learner
not yet a master at the craft. In economics paid
laborers are not only allowed to but encouraged
and often required to go through these stages of
skill development realizing that experience
along with guidance and mentorship is the way
that competence is developed. In the unpaid
care sector however, first time parents are often
considered incompetent admittedly but also
not nurtured. It is common for commercial
operations to offer to take over parenting from
these parents for a price and some parents feeling
insecure may also not be sure they could
become competent so they need these substitutes
The problem is that in any other role, we would
as a society help these parents be good at the role
with mentorship and time and funding to gain the
experience and to bond with their young for
the wellbeing of both parties. Only in the unpaid
care sector does economics consider that novices
and those with years of experience are all equally
incompetent, for only a paid worker has competence.
asset – is an object or piece of equipment considered of value.
A person can also be considered an asset to a business
or a political movement for the wisdom and skills they
contribute. In GDP economies however an asset is
only seen through the financial lens, and includes
money, savings, investments, property and other items
that could be converted to cash. This restricted definition
of asset however ignores the nonmonetary and less visible
contributions to society of wisdom to guide a project,
energy to help others, skills to solve problems and
time to devote to service. Unpaid caregivers are not
officially seen as assets to an economy even though
they anchor it. Oddly the fact they are not paid precludes
noticing their contribution and the contribution is not
therefore valued, because it is not paid. The vicious circle
of devaluing in perpetuated. When politicians speak of
assets of a nation they often cite natural beauty,
clean air, clean water, and sometimes children as
the greatest assets. However in economic jargon there
is no recognition of what that may mean and as a result
no funding to direct to preserving or nurturing these
assets.
assistance- should mean help of any kind. However in
economies it usually means only financial assistance
attachment to the paid labor force
A focus in economics to grant caregivers time
away from the paid job but only if they soon return to
it, is common. This desire for women in particuar
to stay attached to the paid labor force implies that
only in that way do they still have value in the economy.
Making benefits for pregnancy, maternity, time spent
with a newborn all conditional on having had paid work
recently and committing to returning to it soon, also
devalues the care role for itself. The rationale often
given that the employer has to keep the job open for
the woman and that this ensures she is not left unemployed
for her time with the baby, may help the family budget
but also does hobble employers who have to hire a temporary
replacement worker and train that person and then let that
person go. The obligation of an employer to have to keep on
staff a person because of pregnancy and not based on their
competence may also not fully empower women to be valued
for their competence alone.
babysitter – the one who tends the child occasionally .
The term is used commonly just to designate
the role ‘I’m going to babysit tonight” but in GDP
economics the term is restricted to paid care.
One might notice the lethargy of the term
‘sitter’ as if the role has no physical demands.
benefits – the term means advantages, merits, pluses
of an activity. The action leads to the effect.
so the benefit of exercise is for instance better
physical health In GDP economics however the
term benefits is restricted to monetary add-ons to the salary, such as money
to pay for dental care, pay while sick, pay while on vacation, pension. Benefits have a function of accommodation or forgiveness for time not at the paid job due to human frailty. Recognizing maternity through this category could view pregnancy and giving birth as forgiveness not value of the role. Tying the benefit to paid work, with contributions from government , employer or employee excludes all those pregnant or giving birth without such recent paid work history
so is not itself recognition of maternity but of paid work.
Tying the benefit to commitment to return to paid work increases the
perception that pregnancy and giving birth are brief detours away
from useful roles, only valued if they are brief
The unpaid caregiver lacking salary also is unable to access such benefits,
so has no entitlement to funding when ill, or to dental care
or vacations. In a household with two
dental benefit policies, one for each earning
parent, the family can much more easily afford
to pay for dental braces for the child than can
a household with only one earner and one
dental benefit policy.
breast feeding – the benefits of the feeding of newborns
by breast milk rather than formula have been
researched extensively by pediatricians and
many pediatric societies now recommend breast
feeding for the first one or two years or more
of the life of the child. However because the
GDP economy does not consider time spent
taking care of a baby useful work, labor and tax
law usually pressures new mothers to return to ‘
paid work much sooner than that 1-2 year interval.
This anomaly creates a dilemma for parents who are
both told to and not to spend time with the baby.
It sets up parents for impossible expectations
from very early- to earn and to breast feed
in ways that may often be mutually exclusive.
This dilemma also sets women up for emotional
upheaval at any decision they make -guilt to
not breast feed or guilt to not be earning. Such
dilemmas are part of the problem of not valuing
the care role officially and in tax law.
burden – onerous task, unpleasant obligation.. The
care role in recent decades has been described
as if a heavy weight on the shoulders that must
be lifted. Paid care providers often make their case
offering to for pay, ease that burden. Governments
urging women out of the home to do paid work often
describe the care role at home as unpleasant in order
to nudge women to paid roles away from family.
This negative stereotyping of the care role continues
when activism for gender equality focuses on men
sharing the ‘burden’, doing their half of the onerous
roles. Such focus on the burden and not the value
of the role further stigmatizes it. A fairer answer would
be to value the role whoever does it, and to let families
chose who does it, but with respect for the role and
with government acknowledgment that it is not
akin to taking our trash to raise a child.
business -logically this term simply means the activity at which
one is busy, what takes up their time and effort. It can
mean the legitimate area of concern so that something
is ‘none of your business’ or ‘your business’ to know.
In economics however the term is also restricted to
the provision of goods or services for money. A person
is ‘in business’ and ‘in the business of’ meaning that
is how they earn money. The caregiver is ignored
in what activities they do that keep them busy even
if these are vital activities.
business attire/ clothes for work – this is clothing worn
for nonleisure activities. It is not formal wear
for parties or semi-formal wear for entertainment
but it is also not casual relaxed wear for leisure.
The designation of business attire reflects certaiu
standards of seriousness, cleanliness, respect for
the position held. Interestingly, the cost of such
clothing is usually mid range, but a definite cost
higher than for clothing worn around the house.
The assumption however that the unpaid caregiver
does not need ‘work clothes’ also ignores the
fact that the work is also demanding and may require
mopping floors, climbing ladders, hoisting small
children or feeding those who are messy.
care – can mean emotional involvement so that
if a person cares about what happens, they are
interested, concerned and kindly disposed to a good
outcome. If you care for someone it means you like
them. If you take care of someone it means you
help provide them with some necessities.
A caretaker is a term for someone who tends a building
and takes care of the mechanical aspects of it and its
cleanliness.
A caregiver is a term for someone who provides
for the needs usually of another person. However
the word’ giver’ implies also a gift of care, and
lack of remuneration. The term itself historically
has come to be so closely associated with lack of
remuneration as to be a definition of good care- that
it is less noble even if paid, and more admirable if
done from the heart, at personal expense and without pay.
Such implications keep pay rates low for paid careproviders
and hamper any efforts to get care roles by family
members valued as worth money.
care of the handicapped types -putting the handicapped
into institutional settings was the strategy of years
ago to improve on just neglect or abuse of them.
However recent decades have emphasized the
dignity of the handicapped, their rights and the
contributions they still can make to society.
The care locations have also expanded so that
care within the home is sometimes a preference,
care by a family member is sometimes a preference,
and integration into the schools and offices
is also more enabled, as is assisted living .
However in the GDP economy it is much
more common to identify costs of care
of the handicapped still, only if they are
receipted costs paid to third parties. This bias
hampers cecisions for care
care seller – this is a pejorative representation of those
who provide paid care. The more polite way
to designate such care is as providing care, as care
providers, as part of the business of childcare or
seniors care. The association of money with care ‘giving’
has been criticized by some as inconsistent with care
provided for free, out of love. Associating money with
it may seem crass, which is why parents who want funding
for care they provide of their children are criticized as
materialistic. However when governments subsidize
costs of care in every other location than the home, this
inconsistency has been questionned as a bias against
family based care. When a 3rd party paid care setting
has a set rate and then if the parents are late to pick up
the child charges a perminute penalty rate, this extra bill
for care’giving’ does highlight the monetary nature
of the care relationship there also. The idea that money cannot
be a factor when care is given out of love is a sentimental ideal
but may not be consistent with realities of cost of having a
loving adult available to provide care. Many who charge for
care do claim they offer loving care also, and also charge
money. A consistent government policy would not preclude
families and those who love the care receiver from inclusion
into the funding formula that values care itself.
carer – is a term in the UK for someone who provides
care of another person. The term however may
imply that to take care of someone and to care
about how they are the same thing and they
are not.
casual worker – the term casual implies leisurely, not rushed,
and not very intensely committed to an activity.
In economics a casual worker is a worker who
does not put in full time hours only part time or
on call or occasional. This term use however also
suggests lack of need of the income and lack of
dedication to the role. Since many unpaid caregivers
subsidize their lack of money with some paid work
but not full time, for them to be labelled as casual
even the paid job, may be a reason such paid
workers are often paid lower salary and no benefits,
even though logically they could be argued to deserve
them.
child -dependant minor. The definition of when childhood ends
varies not only between countries but within them for various
rights and responsibilities. The grey area of when childhood ends
and when adult responsibilities are imposed has huge importance ‘
to the safety, medical care, education and criminal record and to
parental and caregiver obligations to supervise or protect. In a given
country the age ranges may be for instance- age to pay adult fare
on airplane (2), in restaurants (12), on buses (12), age to join a
‘political party (14), to be prescribed birth control or have an abortion
without parental consent( can be 14 or at discretion of doctor)
to be obliged to attend school (16), to drive a car (18) to join the military (17), to be charged with a criminal offense as an adult (18), to enter into a legal contract (18), to marry without parental permission (18 )to vote (18), to purchase alcohol or tobacco products (18) to purchase vaping products, e-cigarettes or legal
cannabis (18), to do online gambling (18)to view an adult-rated movie in a theatre or X rated video games(18), to run for political office (21)
In some countries historically gender of the child also affected the rate where
for instance boys were not charged as criminal offenders till they were 18,but
girls were charged from age 16. One might notice that some rights that affect
the safety and lives of others, such as driving a car or having an abortion are given
sooner than some rights that have much lower safety risk such as voting.
When a child is ‘grown up’ and able to make their own decisions is affected
by the GDP economy paradigm also because earning of money is considered
both a right, and also an area from which a child should be protected, to
ensure children are not used as cheap labor or deprived of an education, both
of which happened historically and do still happen in some countries. Some
nations also do not define age cut -offs for some rights. A child can be left
unsupervised in the home from age 12 in some areas but the age is not defined
in others. The age at which children can travel alone though near others on
buses, or airplanes has also been interpreted individually for circumstance . The
age at which a minor can be prescribed birth control or have an abortion may
be left to the discretion of the medical doctor consulted, without consulting
parents, in areas where if a child had a traumatic injury there is legal obligation to contact the family. In the GDP economy the child though protected is also
viewed as a huge potential boon to business as purchaser, leading some nations
to establish limits of advertising to the young to protect their vulnerability
but also grey areas of enforcement where with online product purchase
a child need only claim to be an adult to be allowed to make the purchase.
The protection of children logically may suggest need for supervision of them even as teens, though the law does not require such supervision. GDP
economics prioritizes parents having paid work over providing supervision
of their teenage offspring.
childcare – the use of the term by 3rd party caregivers
as if they uniquely provided childcare has led even to
observations such as that a parent ‘has no
childcare’ and ‘needs childcare’ in order to
‘work. This oddity of expression is applied
even if the parent already not only provides
childcare themselves but is in effect the
childcare service.
childcare – should mean care of the child. It should mean
care of the child regardless of who is giving the care,
the location of care, the blood relationship of the
caregiver to the child or any other considerations
about income or gender of the child or the adult.
However in GDP economics this term is restricted
to only noticing paid care, and since pay is not permitted
for related family members it only notices and counts
as childcare, care that is paid for a 3rd party. It excludes
care by father, mother, grandparent, aunt or older sibling
and creates by this exclusion the oddity that those care styles
excluded are deemed not providing childcare at all. So tallies
of childcare may even represent those family based
arrangements as potential users of 3rd party care who
are not using it, and therefore as ‘lacking’ childcare.
The term ‘childcare’ has come to be even more limited
in recent decades when the daycare industry took over
the term as its exclusive property and argues to government
that only 3rd party daycare is childcare, and that governments
to fund care of children should directly and preferentially
fund only 3rd party care by strangers non relative to the child.
childcare types – there are over a dozen ways to provide
legal and good care of a child. They include
care by a father, mother, grandparent, older
sibling or a hired third party. The care can
be provided in the home of the child or
at the home of another person or at a community
center or even large daycare building. It can
be provided by parents taking turns, by one
parent home with the child while the other is
at paid work, or by a parent simultaneously
while earning from home or telecommuniting.
It can be provided by a parent who takes the
child to the paid work venue at a corner store
or office or driving a school bus. It can be provided
by a live in or live out nanny, au pair or child
tutor, childminder, wet nurse. Most children
experience a range of such care over the
course of a week, and for sure over the course of
several years as situations change due to illness,
job relocation, travel, family crisis, travel. However
despite this wide range of types and styles of childcare
the 3rd party sector that offers large group care
has attempted to lobby government as if it is
the only type of childcare, to be the only grou
consulted for legislation, and to be the only
funded style of care.
choice – means options. Free choice implies equally weighted options
without pressure or bias to favor one option over others. If governments
claim to value choice for women- for marriage or not, having
children or not, abortion or not, choice of education and career
those choice goals have been part of the women’s liberation movement.
However if choice of use of 3rd party daycare is preferentially
funded by government, then it is not free choice. Unless other
care options are equally funded, it is Hobson’s choice, or the
choice of Model T purchasers that you could have the Model T
in any color so long as it was black.
Setting up a childcare space or each child ‘just in case’ they
want it, to give them that ‘choice’ funds an empty space and
is inefficient funding. Efficient funding would go to wherever
the child was, enabling parents actual free choice.
Free choice in care of children is only provided when government
funds all care styles equally, and works as hard to give mothers
the option to be at home or to use sitter, nanny, grandma care
as it does to give them the option of 3rd party childcare.
When taxpayers are forced to fund 3rd party childcare preferentially
through government programs and tax policy, taxpayers are also
denied choice and are forced to support a biased system.
chores, burden
The term ‘chore’ implies an onerous unpleasant task not
a vital and valued one. Arguments that ask for government to
value the care role as a burden may not accomplish
the goal of dignity and respect. Terms that refer to a woman ‘stuck ‘at home, or with a goal of sharing the ‘burden’ of care responsibilities have a tone
that does not value the role itself.
contribution- should mean effort or input into a larger project.
In economics however it is restricted only to paid input
so a parent’s contribution to the wellbeing of a child on
divorce is only counted if it is money, not time.
cost of childcare
should mean both the emotional and practical
expenditure of time and money required to take
care of a child. However in economics the
only cost noticed is financial. In addition
the only cost that is noticed is not the loss
of money or income sacrifice, though this
is a huge blow to a household budget, but
is only the outlay of money, how much is
paid to someone else. This means that in
a household the loss of a salary so a parent
can be home with a baby is not seen as a cost
but paying for a nanny or daycare is. When
government that sympathizes with the cost
of childcare, and subsidizes it, it tends to
fund the daycare itself directly and to give
the parents a deduction for the money they
paid to the daycare in addition. It ignores
the costs of care in the home, both outlay
costs for food, clothing, toys, shelter
and the cost of income loss.
custodian – the person who has the responsibility and is
overseeing a property such as an apartment building.
However the term is also used for those who have legal
responsibility to provide care of a child or handicapped
adult. The oddity is that this term implies legal obligation
and rights but no emotional attachment and is rarely used
to describe the family caregiver. The person who has ‘custody
of a child is the one legally responsible for them and required to
be in their presence of to determine their wellbeing. During divorce
proceedings discussion are held about which parent has
this legal right. The financial obligation to fund costs
of care is often directly and inversely related to the determination
of who has custody of the child. Each parent is deemed by the
courts in most countries to have to provide financial support of
the child even if absent from the child so that when the parent does ‘
not have custody of the child, that parent must provide money to the
one who does. Many parents recently decide on shared custody
where costs to the noncustodial parent per month are therefore lower
than if the parent never had custody. The terms used do tend to refer
to children however as objects and the terminology is the same as used
oddly, for prison inmates. A person is taken into custody of the police
when arrested, is held in custody. What may be missing from the discussion
by use of such terms if valuing the relationship of the caregiver to the
child, and valuing the time spent together not as a restricted time with
boundaries but as a precious time with value. The GDP economy tends
to ignore relationships and only focus on exchange of money.
daycare
should mean care of someone during
the day, regardless of location or identity
of the care receiver or caregiver. However
in the 1970s it was used exclusively to apply
to paid care of children at an institutional
setting and provided by nonfamily members.
When some businesses required parents
to do paid work weekends or shifts or evenings
some daycares started operating evenings
or weekends and some nations even set up
24 hour and several days in a row ‘long
daycares’ so that term became less logical.
In addition hospitals were often labelling
outpatients in for brief treatment, not
overnight stays as ‘day patients ‘ and sometimes
as getting ‘day care’ so the expression daycare
became less used for care of children. Those who
operate third party care facilities also moved to
the expression’ childcare’ partly because it did not
point out as clearly that it referred only to
one style of care.\
depending on someone – means relying on them, being able to trust
their honesty, presence, values, skills. In economics terms
however it is restricted in meaning to money and needing
another person to provide funds. This bias in meaning
ignores that fact that the unpaid caregiver is the one who
the care receiver depends on for care and that that care
often is vital to survival . To treat the caregiver
as the one who is dependent ignores the direction
of the role. The earner who goes off to the paid job
secure in the knowledge that the children will be fine,
their safety and nutrition and education and health
will be taken care of, their values taught well in
the absence of that earner, does depend on the caregiver.
The idea that the caregiver is the only one who depends
on the other is not accurate. A more logical concept
in a household is interdependency.
development – is progression or growth along a path. It is a process not
a one time event. In traditional economics working with mechanical
items, product development is entirely due to human intervention.
However working with people, there is also natural development as
babies grow and children mature so the role of intervention is important
but not the only factor. The development of a child into an adult is not the
sole territory of any one location or the monopoly of any care style for
children will develop anyway, they learn wherever they are and they grow
physically taller, naturally. Some childcare centres label themselves centres
of early childhood development. They are not the sole locations for good
development however and do not own the territory.
domestic- within the nation and not foreign. The term also refers to
activity done within the home. A person called a domestic
is one hired to do menial tasks around the home .In the GDP
economy domestic labor, done in the home, is not viewed as
useful work unless a third party is paid to do it, at which
point it is seen as work and of economic value This disconnect
values and pays for work based not on task description as is
true for any other work, but on identity of the worker.
early education, early learning
should mean the learning and training of
young children, wherever it happens. However
in GDP economics which only counts paid
roles, the expressions were used only to
apply to paid care situations particularly
in daycare settings. The fact that children
are born’ ready to learn’ was ignored as daycares
advertised that they helped children get ready for school
and ready to learn. The fact that children learn
wherever they are, at the knee of the grandparent
or at the playground or library was glossed over
by those who claimed that only at a 3rd party
daycare facility did children get any education
or learning opportunity. The daycare lobby often
rebranded itself in the 1990s as EE specialists
for early education. Some even designated
their staff as ‘teachers’ even though they did not
have qualifications for school teaching that
are required by departments of education and
for certification of teachers in the school system.
This use of the emotionally laden positive terms
of learning and teachers and education was co opted
by the daycare lobby as if it solely owned
that territory.
eldercare – logically the care of the elderly encompasses many styles from
occasional drop in help with groceries, running errands,
driving to appointments, to more intense help with doing
taxes, helping manage banking. It can involve personal
care, helping arrange medical purchases or services,
medical appointments or even the administering of medicine
or monitoring of health. It may involve simply companionship.
personal shopping, phone calls and online check ins and shared
hobbies with others. The one providing this care may be
the spouse, sibling, friend or adult offspring or the senior
or a third party paid to help out. It may be paid or unpaid but
the bulk of care in any country is unpaid and offered by family
memberse. The care location can be
the home of the senior or a community setting, assisted living
complex or nursing home or auxiliary hospital. The paid caregiver
may be visit the senior or may be a live in in the same residence.
This breadth of options is however not noted by the GDP
economy which ignores any care unless it is paid thereby
ignoring the bulk of senior care in any country. What is often
also not recognized is that most senior care is provided
by other seniors, where spouses allow for and adapt to
each other’s changing needs as they age, and become critical
supports for each other’s physical and emotional wellbeing
All such family -based care is not counted as eldercare in the
GDP economy. The result is that when not counted it is also
not considered when policies are created and when funding
is every allocated by government to assist with costs of
care of seniors, the salary loss of family caregivers, the out
of pocket costs and the value of their time providing care
are also ignored, and even discouraged. What the state tallies
it sees and what it sees is the only thing it funds.
employed/ unemployed – how you spend your time is how you employ
it. What you are employed at doing is however in economics
also restricted to what you do for pay. The expression
unemployed technically means you are unpaid, not receiving
pay but it also strongly suggests you also are not using
your time in any worthwhile way. The unpaid caregiver
then, seen as unemployed, or more politely ‘not attached
to the paid labor force’ is still seen then as not busy at
anything.
equality
The daycare advocacy argument often is that women can
only attain equality with men if they have equal pay with men
and a level playing field that does not count child raising
obligations against women.
This argument has led to a push for free daycare even
or for men to do their half of childrearing, so that both
genders experience the same hurdles. The problem is
that this argument makes men the focus for women’s
equality. It sets as the bar of what women need, what men
already get.
In that way it actually perpetuates the idea that only roles men
had have value. It perpetuates the idea that women’s highest
aim is to be like men And in the women’s movement for dignity
it actually is not consistent. To be fully consistent it would say
that women are as good as men, wherever they are, that yes they
deserve equal pay at the paid job, compared to men, but they
also deserve financial recognition and dignity at the care role
at home.
To notice the value of the care role financially has taken years.
Some studies look at it as just a household benefit, that the
mom at home saves the family from having to pay out of pocket
for daycare. However it has been noticed that the income sacrifice
of the parent at home is often triple what daycare costs so the
highest’ cost’ of childcare is actually incurred if you don’t’ use
daycare.
When governments assist ‘working parents’ though and those who
use daycare, then tend to ignore the poverty of the parent at home.
The tax system that ties benefits to paid income also prejudices
even who gets maternity benefits and deductions for school
lunch programs or summer camp. The lack of a household based
tax prejudices the options for parents about if one can afford to
be home with the child at all. So the tax department has taken
huge steps to define’ equality’ only in terms of nudging women out
of the home.
It could be argued that the goal of equality with men is not attained
just by pay equity . It could be argued that we need equality between
paid and traditionally unpaid roles for real equality to happen.
And it could be noticed that when we aim at equality, creating two
tiers among women also does not provide equality . If we
have mothers who earn and mothers who are unpaid, mothers
who get paid while on maternity and others who do not,
we have created a split within women’s groups themselves.
And a society that aims at equality would also not play favorites
between women.
expenses -are costs incurred. Many nations permit individuals and businesses
to pay less tax on what they earned, because some of what they earned
had to be spent just to operate the business. These ‘business expenses’
for a desk, rent, office supplies, utilities and even travel and sometimes
entertainment are deemed money spent in order to make money.
However none of them is allowed as a deduction for unpaid caregivers
even though to provide care of someone else can require costs in
all of those areas.
expert – should mean very competent at the task
However in economics the designation is reserved
for those who are paid in the role, to the extent even
that pay is seen as proof of expertise. A person who
sells books or gives speeches that people pay for
may designate themselves an expert on any topic
even a life coach or guru. The business world that
defines expertise in terms of formal training,
degrees and certificates has traditionally also
valued experience, on the job training and
apprenticeship. Many professions like law
and medicine, education and accounting, air
plane flying and many of the trades in fact require both
education and experience before full attainment
of credentials. However experience alone is
not valued much in formal economics. Even
though experience not formal education is the
key element of competence for mountain
climbers it is not counted much in formal
economics and for caregivers, the experience
of a grandmother who has raised several
children through all their stages of childhood
is deemed as not expert at all about children
while an 18 year old single girl who got a certificate
for early childhood training is viewed as an expert.
family – people who are related through blood or marriage. The
last few decades have seen a shift in this definition to
include in some countries those who are not formally
married but living together common law, those who
are same sex in married or not formally married relationship
In practical terms households often are composed of
two siblings or two or three generations of relatives, even of
skip-generation with grandparent and grandchild but parents
not there. “Family’ can mean extended family with aunts
and cousins and the family has traditionally not only be
the first responder and key support for each others’ illness,
bereavement, emotional or financial crisis but also for
each other’s practical needs such as getting help getting a
car unstuck in the snow or building a garage. The definition
of family has become a legal point of contention that may mask
the more vital aspect that it is the group of closely
affiliated people who are each others’ support network.
They may be close friends not related at all. They
may be family through formal adoption or foster care
arrangement or kin-care arrangement. What might be
more useful than defining family would be to permit
family however defined to do its traditional unpaid
caregiving role. To deny this role tax recognition
is to discourage it. To have governments only subsidize
nonfamily based care is its own race-based bias.
Recent human rights legislation that forbids discrimination
based on family status may finally permit the unpaid
care sector to function, in its historical role of saving
government money by not requiring the state to
pay for some care roles.
for a living – the question of what a person does for a living
means what they do for income. However income does
not itself guaranteed a healthy life or a happy life and
what a person does for quality of life may be quite
a different question that what they do for income.
The career-family dilemma identified in the 1980s
has been also labelled the work-life dilemma but
it has also been noted that the distinctions are not
that clear. Taking care of a baby is play but
also work. Sitting at a computer can be work
or play or kind of both. GDP only focuses
on paid work and is being seen as missing some
key elements of what matters also to people.
for profit and not for profit care – Daycare advocacy groups have tried to limit the discussion of what is good care to a limited set of options which for daycare lobbyists create a win-win. Either fund daycare a or daycare b. The problems not admitted are several
foster care – the care of the young who come from households
where family based care was either not possible or not
safe. The state takes over care of the vulnerable child
and suddenly this care role is funded, the care provider
is deemed to be doing useful work. The rates of ‘
pay for foster caregivers mirror wages at other paid
jobs, even though the job description for care is identical
to the job description of the unpaid family caregiver.
Parents historically foster the development of their
young as a key descriptor of the parenting role.
However in the GDP economy they are not deemed
to offer fostering care and are not permitted funding
for the role.
free time /leisure -i economics is unassigned time, time not at paid work
This concept of freedom as outside the paid work world
creates the corollary that if person is not paid they have only
free time. The idea the unpaid caregiver can make decisions
of time management- when to take the child to the park,
when to do the laundry, does not however mean there is freedom
to not do the laundry or feed the baby. To assume that the
unpaid caregiver’s day is leisure ignores the fact that babies
require feeding every few hours day and night and though
there may be variation in the schedule as the baby grows,
there is not a lot of freedom to decide whether or not
to provide food. The stereotype then of the life of the
unpaid caregiver as a life of leisure is mistaken.
GDP – Gross domestic product – is a means of tallying activity in the
economy that only counts paid work and the flow of money.
It ignores the one third of the economy that is unpaid work.
have it all – to be able to enjoy full freedom and benefits of life
In the women’s movement the goal that women should
not incur any losses because of gender, created the goal
that they would be able to have career and family satisfaction,
success at paid work and feeling of success at the noncareer
parts of life also. This goal that women and men could easily
combine paid career and the home, seemed very possible when
men or women were both single, without family obligations.
However on marriage, the role of cooking, cleaning and doing
laundry generally fell to women more than men and created
a difference in time use and time availability for career or
leisure. When the couple had children, time use surveys also
have found a growing gender imbalance where pregnancy,.
giving birth and nursing a baby did change the gender options.
In most countries care of children has been a role for women
more than for men and over time the care role has been viewed
in some ways as the problem for equality rights. Some advocates
have asked for men to do their share of the care role, to equalize
the time use hurdles. Others have noted that having men do some
of the care role has not changed the perception in economics
that it is a lesser role, even an obstacle or burden to career.
The challenge of women or men to ‘have it all’ has in some circles
been adjusted to a more fluid goal of having satisfaction with
the career and life balance each actually wants and to the idea
that a person can’ have it all’ eventually, but not always all at once.
If GDP economics recognized that at some stages of life the
care demands are very high, the expectation of at all times
having peak career time commitment would be adjusted.
help should mean assistance given emotionally
or physically or financially. However in economics
it is restricted to financial help. A volunteer helper
is not valued but a hired helper suddenly has value
and is counted in the economy.
high quality care -care that is optimal and meets needs and exceeds
expectations.The expression ‘high quality care’ however can be
nebulous since the criteria for quality are themselves vague.
A logical standard may be multifaceted (safety, freedom from germs, low adult- child ratios) with criteria easy to quantify and inspect and regulate. However
important aspects of care such as attentiveness of the caregiver,
patience, encouragement, taking time to listen, attention to
individual interests are hard to quantify.Nurturing and loving are
not aspects of the role that can be trained or faked or purchased.
The results is that the expression ‘high quality’ are may meet
standards of inspectable quantifiable elements like room size
or adult-child ratios but may ignore other vital criteria.
holiday/ vacation- this is time where a person is not at work,
not obliged to do tasks assigned by an employer.
However in reality of course adults are never
completely free of obligations and even on holiday
have to obey traffic laws and travel restrictions. The care
sector quickly finds that there is no such thing as a complete
holiday however since the obligations to provide for the
child’s safety and necessities of life continue. Unpaid
caregivers face an irony that there not only is no break from
the role, but they are legally obliged to do it and yet not compensated
for it. The fact that society depends on each generation renewing
itself places a high practical value but low financial value on
the birth and raising of children. The idea of a holiday
is another oddity of traditional economics that is out of
touch with unpaid care days. Some jobs get pay and
holiday pay. Unpaid caregivers get neither.
home- – living space, residence. The term is easy enough
to understand in common usage but in care discussions
it can be easily confused. Seniors who live in a ‘home’
may be living in a seniors’ facility called a nursing
home and residents of ‘the home’ may be an expression
that ensures funding to the care facility, while funding
is not given to seniors who are in their own homes
of earlier years.
Home care logically would mean care delivered in
the residence of the person needing it. However
in the GDP economy it is restricted in definition
to paid care, and to such care also being provided
by a nonfamily member. This blindness to
care provided in the home that is provided by
a spouse, parent, adult offspring or sibling ends
up ignoring and therefore not funding the most
common type of care in any nation.
Home is the personal part of life as distinguished from the
business, office, career part. This distinction has
created legal preception that the office was about
money and the state had the right to make laws concerning
it but that the home was personal, and private, without
state right to monitor. However in GDP economics
the idea that the home was not a location of economic
activity , that did not count purchasers there as
useful to the nation, or care roles there as useful
contribution to societal wellbeing, linked legal right
to intervene, not necessarily logically with economic
benefit. The idea that what was done in the home was
not a type of revenue in kind for the state, was ignored.
home-based business – in economics when a product or service is provided
from an office or factory, the place of business is obvious.However
in cottage industry times and on farms, the location of the business
was often also the home. With the Internet and online marketing
it has become possible to have businesses much more easily operate
from home. Many caregivers of young children or the handicapped
or seniors strategize ways to have income while also being a caregiver
and they may operate a day home tending other children, or have a craft
production or tutor or provide an online counselling or Internet
marketing skill, while also being a caregiver. Usually however
the care obligations take up time and income from such a
home-based business is less than it would be without the care
obligations also. The fact that a person can earn from home
however is changing the stereotype of home as separate
from paid work. So many parents have some small
income while at home that there is a designation now
of work-at-home mother. Such income is not income for
caregiving however. If the role of caregiving in the
economy were noticed for the creation and nurturing
of each new generation of citizens however, the role
might be seen as the core home-based business on
which the nation depends.
homemaker – was a 1950s term for the person in the home who
took care of the family. It has become a more derogatory
term lately
household – is a grouping of individuals who share the same residence.
In tax law it is not however a consistently treated concept. Those
who live in the same residence may share income and standard of
living and may be an economic unit, in which case taxing them
recognizing the income is shared may seem fair and some
nations permit this tax paying style. However some residents
of the same residence are not sharing income, for instance
if they are roommates only, or if they choose to not share
income, in which case taxing them as individuals seems more
logical. However many nations do not permit this flexiblity
of tax choice. Some nations require taxation only as individuals,
ignoring and therefore penalizing the sharing of income.
This ends up penalizing households with an unpaid caregiver
where the earner is taxed as if the income is not shared when
it is. In addition some nations are inconsistent in the tax policy,
asking for money from the individual based on individual earnings
(so asking for more money) yet returning benefits such as tax
rebates or childcare subsidies based on household income (so
returning less money) An ideal tax plan might be to permit
choice of individual or household based tax, and then for government
to also be consistent with that choice when it returns benefits.
housewife – was a 1950s term for the married woman
in the home who did traditional roles there
of cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping
and tending the family. The term came under disrepute
when it was mocked in the 1970s that the woman
was married to the house. The term got associated
with many negative stereotypes of angry emotional
women or with women with no social status – ‘just
a housewife”
in care – if a child is in the care of an adult, that logically
means the child is being protected, nurtured,
fed, kept well by that adult. However the GDP
economy so narrowly defines care, to only recognize
care if it is paid, that when a child is enters ‘into care”
that expression is assumed to only refer to a child
taken from the parent and put in the care of the
state. The oddity of this limited definition is quite
striking where care by the parent is not
even called care but care by the state is.
incentive- something given as motivation or encouragement.
In GDP economics the assumption seems to be that
salary is not always enough to spur people to act
and that additional enticement may be given, and this
also is often money or privilege that has a value
with some money value- such as extra holiday time
or a job promotion. In the care sector, the argument has
sometimes been given that women in the home need
incentives to do paid work outside the home, ostensibly
to be convinced to enjoy liberation from domestic roles.
An incentive however also implies a preference by the
employer, and if offered by government a preference
for citizen behavior. When low cost of free third party
childcare is given as an incentive for women to do paid work
the implication is that care roles at home are lesser and government
is showing a lifestyle favoritism, which itself may be a human
rights violation when it favors separating families from keeping
parent with child. There are some who claim that women
need work so the low cost childcare funded by government
is assistance not incentive. However unless asssistance
is also given to use other care styles including home-based
care, an incentive for only one care style is still discriminatory.
in kind- sweat equity- payment that is not in cash but is in goods
or services that have an equivalent monetary value to
the debt owed. This type of transaction is not recognized
in the GDP economy though it is common in the informal
economy. The care role historically is entirely based
on labor that is not paid. Governments however refuse
to see such care roles as service in kind, taxation
in kind. or sweat equity contribution the economy and
even consider such care roles as drains on the economy.
informal care – this expression is misleading because though it has a ring of flexibility and casualness, some also assume it has a ring of makeshift unplanned care. I personally find it a useful expression since to me the opposite is formal rule- directed care in an institutional setting such as a community centre, church. However there are some who feel the term is being used against mothers at home as if it means the care is substandard somehow.
institutionalized care – some daycare lobbyists are offended when daycare is referred to as ‘institutional / institutionalized care. One person suggested it was not an institution which they said conjured up Hitlerian marching images. The claim was made that daycare was actually ‘community based’ at the YWCA and in community centers and churches. However logically, those actually are institutions. I admit the problem with connotation but technically the distinction is being made between home-based care and 3rd party care elsewhere and since the 3rd party care elsewhere is usually denied funding by daycare lobbyists if it is private homes, by nannies, or by dayhomes, then it has seemed useful to try to categorize the type of care the daycare lobby is trying to favor – and that seems to be care in larger ‘institutional’ settings. If there is another word that is clearer it could be considered but ‘community-based care’ would be misleading since that logically would include babysitting, care by grandma, a friend or anyone else in the community.
investment and return on investment -in GDP economics people
can buy shares in a company and get dividends based
on its success. The idea of spending money for later hope
of return on investment is key to the stock market and
to many purchases where value is expected to increase.
This whole concept however does not notice
that children themselves are an investment society
makes in its own sustainability. Money spent to ensure
people can have children, can keep them healthy
and educate them, to train them with values that are
supportive of a healthy society is actually a vital part
of any economy. The oddity is that in GDP economics
those who have historically always made this investment
by their own time investment, income loss or cash outlay
have not been recognized for the value they produce
to the economy. Activists who argue for 3rd party childcare
to be preferentially funded often argue that this money spent
by all taxpayers is an investment, that $2 spent now will pay
off with $7 later in reduced costs of criminal justice
or health care or unemployment if children are not raised well.
Such arguments whether statistically accurate or not for that
particular type of care, could be as logically made however for
any good care of a child, and therefore are not logically
made to support care only of one style.
job -the term means an obligation or responsibility. It may
be your job to take out the trash. However in economics
terms it is only used for paid roles. An unpaid caregiver
even if the role demands 18 hour days to ensure the
wellbeing and survival of another is officially said
to not have a job. In economics the unpaid caregiver
is considered jobless or unemployed and is in the
same category officially then of those available
for paid work but just not doing paid work. This
misconception of availability for paid work can
create serious bias against the unpaid caregiver
who is officially deemed to have left work
all the while still doing intense work, just
unpaid.
In the GDP economy however only paid
jobs are recognized with the implication that without pay any
activity is not of use in the economy. This creates a particular oddity
regarding care roles. The task of tending a baby is seen as a useful
job in society if done by a third party dacyare employee but not
of use if done by a parent. The argument then for government to
fund 3rd party daycare centres to help with job creation is mostly then
about creating jobs for daycare workers, with the added claim that
this formula would also enable parents to go to paid jobs themselves.
Both of these arguments are about GDP economics to get everyone
into paid jobs – even caregivers, as long as they are not family relations
of the care receiver. This bias to move people out of an option to be
caregivers at home but to highly value the job when someone else
does it, creates an illogic in most other careers where
a job is a job and is defined for its worth by the tasks done
and the benefit derived to those taken care of. – children.
labor – should mean effort expended, usually implying physical
effort . The concept of ’emotional labor’ is only newly being
recognized. In GDP economics however labor is only
recognized if paid which means that even when a woman
is in labor giving birth she is not deemed to be in economic
terms a laborer
labor force – should mean all those who do useful work’
in society. However in economics it is restricted only
to those whose labor is paid, thereby ignoring all those
whose labor is not paid.
leave – is the expression often used to describe the interval a
mother or father spends paid or unpaid but away
briefly from the paid job, to tend a newborn
or ailing child. There is maternity leave or paternity
leave or personal leave or parental leave. The term
is used in the military to designate holiday time,
and used in the care sector therefore implies
unfortunately that this time is going to be
relaxing and a holiday, not noticing the intense
obligations of the role in the home.
The expression’ leave’ also implies that the
worker got permission – ‘by your leave’ -to
be home, as if this is a privilege that was
requested, and is granted, from someone
in authority who could say no. This use of the
term for care of the young therefore also suggests
that the person who needs time away from paid
work should be humble and contrite asking for it,
and is asking to in essence be forgiven for taking
this time’ off’. Such a use of the term therefore
demeans the care role as if it were personally
embarrassing and a source of shame.
licensed
In our society for someone to be respected officialdom often
requires standards to be met. To protect the public we inspect
and license restaurants, subways, passenger vehicles. We license
doctors, lawyers, dentists, plumbers. We believe in credentials
and standards and should
However in the area of the life at home, there is a tradition
of trust. We live in homes where the electrical wiring was
inspected, where the walls had to pass building code, where
the food we bought at the store had to pass health and safety
rules, but the meals we serve actually are not licensed. We
clean our house mostly without government inspection.
In the area of how we raise our kids there are many laws
requiring supervision, and harsh punishments for abuse or
neglect. Parents already are held to high standards in the community
But daycare lobbyists have adopted the concept of licensing
and inspection an odd way, as if to imply that a care arrangement
without a formal license on the wall is not to be trusted, and
by implication that a home is an ‘unlicensed’ area. That argument
however seems to go too far. It belittles an entire history of
choice and respect of individuals about their choices
In our society for someone to be respected officialdom often
requires standards to be met. To protect the public we inspect
and license restaurants, subways, passenger vehicles. We license
doctors, lawyers, dentists, plumbers. We believe in credentials
and standards and should
However in the area of the life at home, there is a tradition
of trust. We live in homes where the electrical wiring was
inspected, where the walls had to pass building code, where
the food we bought at the store had to pass health and safety
rules, but the meals we serve actually are not licensed. We
clean our house mostly without government inspection.
In the area of how we raise our kids there are many laws
requiring supervision, and harsh punishments for abuse or
neglect. Parents already are held to high standards in the community
But daycare lobbyists have adopted the concept of licensing
and inspection an odd way, as if to imply that a care arrangement
without a formal license on the wall is not to be trusted, and
by implication that a home is an ‘unlicensed’ area. That argument
however seems to go too far. It belittles an entire history of
choice and respect of individuals about their choices
live off – Economics uses the expression ‘to live off
the land’ to mean to derive income and sustenance
from crops and agriculture. The expression is also
used to describe those who do not themselves do
useful work but who lazily are funded by someone
else, as it leeches. A pimp is said to ‘live off ‘ the avails
of prostitution. The notion that an unpaid caregiver
‘lives off’ someone else grossly devalues the role.
minder – a child minder is one who takes care of children. The term ‘mind’ however has
many meanings. It can mean to be wary of (mind the gap), to make
special effort to cooperate (mind your manners) or to be careful (mind
what you say) or to monitor (mind the store). To be asked if you ‘mind’, asks if you are inconvenienced or uncomfortable with an idea and to say you don’t mind implies you are not uncomfortable. Mind can also mean to obey (mind your mother)This term then when used to apply to those who take care of children
and who ‘mind’ the children, carries with it oddly suggestions of inconvenience
or vagueness about who makes the decisions.
money spent – on the costs/ expenses/ outlay side of a ledger, this is
the money that was paid out, as contrasted with income/ revenue/
money received. Balancing the books is trying to ensure that
money received is more than money paid out so there is enough
money left for personal use and savings and wellbeing.
When governments balance their books, they do not look however
at a third category – revenue received that was not in the form
of money. When a service is performed for free such as care
of the sick at home, the state did not have to fund hospital care.
When a senior is tended at home or a handicapped child is cared
for at home, the state did not have to fund care at an insitutional
setting. This category of money that did not have to be spent is
however a type of income for the state. Studies of health care
have noted that the first tier of health care on which nations actually
depend and that they assume and take for granted, is care of the
sick at home, and care of those recovering from surgery, at home.
The unpaid care sector provides this revenue in kind, to the state.
need – should mean a legitimate requirement, not just
a preference. There are lists of human needs for
survival including air, water, food, clothing, shelter
and there are lists of hierarchies of needs to also include
what is vital for emotional wellbeing such as
feeling useful, connecting with others. In GDP
economics however there is a perception that
needs are only related to money and that the key
need of citizens is for a paid job, and along with that
then, the need for enablers to get and hold that paid job.
There is technically no ‘need’ for 3rd party childcare
as a basic human need and some might argue that a child’s
need for care and love and attention is actually not always
best served in third party care, and yet some activists
lobby government that the economy needs to provide
3rd party care of the young and seniors and the handicapped
in order for the economy to thrive.
nurture – means to bring up, train, protect, support encourage. One might notice that
the goal is somewhat abstract and long term, with important goals that are
not easily testable. In traditional economics however testable outcomes are
preferred, with bottom line accounting, costs, benefits. Such analysis of
nurturing however is not as appropriate.
occupation – logically this term implies the activity done to occupy
one’s time, how they spend most of their time.. However in
the GDP economy it has come to mean only what activtities
are done for pay, thereby ignoring all unpaid roles. This omission
is so severe that in official lists of occupations and professions
in many nations, there is no category in the census or any
official document for the unpaid caregiver.
old – not young. The term implies those in the later stages not earlier stages of life. In
some cultures the term implies maturity, wisdom but in many cultures in the
west, it has negative connotations. In GDP economies that focuses on constant
growth,higher productivity, creativity, job creation, what is new is celebrated as
innovative and good, while just by virtue of being old, many products are
devalued. Old fashioned is a pejorative term for clothing or appliances,
technology and sometimes for ideas. The emotional association of the term
old applied to people can also suggest devaluing – my ‘old man’ can mean
parent, but ‘old woman’ is generally an insult. Old wives’ tales interestingly
is an expression with a double insult. An old wives’ tales means an inaccurate
idea, a myth that is passionately believed in but wrong. The reason it is
wrong seems to be age plus association with married women.
overtime – time spent above the normal requirements of the job.
The spending of time beyond what is expected is usually
remunerated at a higher rate, sometimes at 50% more
or even 100% more than the normal hourly rate. This
practice in GDP economics ensures that necessary tasks
will be done with some reward for doing them. However
since care roles in the home are not recognized as useful
work, and are unpaid, they are also not recognized
when the time spent for them is over the standard
40 hour paid work week. The concept of regular hours
and then leisure is not conceived of for care providers
whose care obligations to tend the young or sick or
frail elderly can be 18 hour days without much break
for lunch and no change of hours on weekends.
Though these intense hour demands of care roles
are common, officials generally do not see the time
as overtime, and when lobbied to recognize caregiver
exhaustion or struggles to also do paid work at the same
time, often respond only to value the paid side.
The common intervention is for the state to fund people
when they hire a substitute, to give them ‘respite’ but
to not fund them for when they do the role themselves.
The problem with noticing the time commitments
of caregiving only for the exhaustion they cause tends to
also see them as obstacles and burdens to avoid. When
doctors and lawyers put in long hours they are admired
by society.When parents put in long hours, economics
however see them as needing escape from their role.
-participate
When we tally ‘peak levels of participation in the labour force” the words imply
that this is a good thing to be part of. We don’t speak of participation
in a fire. We speak of enduring a fire, suffering through a fire.
So the words assume that being in paid labor is better than not.
Do we use the same expression for unpaid roles? Do we tally
participation in at home parenting, participation in the
volunteer sector to drive patients to hospital for cancer treatment?
It is fairer if we use respectful even admiring terms for unpaid
roles too.
In our own documents we refer to people who are ‘available to
furnish the supply of labour” for production of goods and services.
Those are expressions inferring that paid labor is what you
want to be ready to do, available. We are implying there is a need
for paid work and we ‘furnish’ this need. Those are logical terms
and yet do we do the parallel for the unpaid labor sector? Do
we promote parents being available to attend a school concert,
available to listen to an upset teen or take care of a sick child?
Do we as a society ‘furnish’ and enable a grandma to come to the
home. to help in the care of a newborn? In other words are we fairly enabling
availability for unpaid roles not just paid roles?
patchwork – a variety of pieces of cloth, sewn together that may or may
not have an overall design. Patches are often sewn on makeshift
repairs and patchwork items are often seen as imperfect, haphazard
and not reliable to be able to do the task. The 3rd party childcare
sector often argues to government that it deserves guaranteed
funding that matches all jursdictions so that parents in all
locations only have to pay the same fees wherever they are.
They claim that the current system presents widely divergent fees
to parents and what is needed is to standardize them. What is often
ignored by such an argument is that the patchwork is even larger,
that the inqualities between funding the care styles outside of the
3rd party daycare are even greater . If the goal is to standardize
funding it is logical to ask for funding to go per child and let
parents choose where to spend it, even on family based care,
in order to avoid the haphazard inequality of a patchwork. However
if the goal is in fact to eliminate the diversity and have one system
that is the same for all people, that goal may actually not meet the
other worthy goal of choice and diversity. Some people want care
by a parent, some by a grandparent, some by a nanny, some by
a 3rd party daycare. In that regard democracy and choice do
celebrate a patchwork, and the valuing of many styles of care.
pay – reward, compensation, salary – In economics terms the meaning of
pay has expanded however beyond just income. It also
have come to mean worth, so that a higher paid employee
is worth more to the company and a wealthy person is seen
as more important, more influential, wiser, and more useful
to contact. Those with low pay suffer the stigma not only
of poverty and discrimination based on income, but also
the second stigma of low self esteem for they often also
have come to believe they have less value because they
have less money. In economics good work is rewarded
with more pay, with bonuses, company shares, more money
on top of money. The unpaid caregiver is not given either
pay or the assumed praise that comes with pay. What is often
assumed is that the pay for the unpaid caregiver is happiness
just to do the role. The mother’s reward is the smile of her
child- is a common theme. GDP economics assumes that
is how unpaid caregivers function and has no category for
treating them otherwise. Even though the rewards of being
with those you love are emotionally very real, there are still
however no free grocery aisles for unpaid caregivers. In
a world where money is required to take part in society
it is odd to still have economic plans that assume that an
unpaid sector can continue to provide vital care, free.
pension – is money given to former paid workers to ensure their wellbeing after
they have devoted many years of service. It is deferred income saved up
plus company or government funds to augment the amount so that the
person no longer at paid work can have a reasonable standard of living
still. This type of recognition is nearly never offered to unpaid caregivers
for their years of work
poor – the term has two meanings that often are unfortunately
assumed to be linked. It can mean financially less endowed,
not rich, lacking funds. However the term can also mean
low quality such as a poor design, a poor performance.
It has been noticed however that the poor are often assumed
in economies to not just be lacking funds but to also be
of lower status, lacking initiative, lacking dignity and
not worthy of respect. The expression when linked to
parents has developed a stereotype where a mother in
‘ poverty is assumed to be a poor mother, not good at
mothering. In some jurisdictions when a woman is
pregnant and poor, she is more often urged by officials
to abort the pregnancy. If she gives birth and is in poverty
that child may be seized by authorities immediately
as a child ‘at risk’, simply because of the mother’s poverty
which it assumed also means she is not going to be able
to be a good mother.
privacy – freedom from being observed, getting public attention. The
home is considered in many countries an area of protected privacy
and the reason some governments refuse to value roles there
is sometimes given that the state would be infringing on privacy.
The idea of the state inspecting the household to determine
what care roles they do and how much or well is offensive to
the right to privacy. However this excuse may not be the real
issue since it is not necessary for the state to inspect caregiving
to respect it. When salaries are paid, workers are not inspected for
how they spend them since there is a trust involved that they
will make personal decisions that are best for them. The default
position of government is to trust the people. Family members
who provide care of loved ones are visible in the community and
subject already to standards for ensuring good care.
product -in economics businesses are created offering products or
services to the public, in exchange for money. The unpaid
care sector however is not visible to the GDP economy
even though the benefit it provides to the community
is one of the most tangible of all- new humans, babies,
future adult citizens and taxpayers. The’product’ of
human reproduction is not deemed a useful product
of an economy, oddly enough and even a woman
giving birth is not seen as productive at that moment.
The service rendered of feeding a child, raising it
to have social skills and education skills and employable
skills and survival skills to take over as older generations
withdraw from life is also oddly not seen as a service
in the economy. Even though it provides the most
tangible benefit to an economy there could be,
the sustainability of the race itself – it is not counted
as part of the economy.
profession- is an occupation that one professes or claims to be skilled at. The term
implies high skill level and can apply to the trades, master carpenter,
electrician, plumber but is often used to designate certain highly educated
occupations such as lawyer, doctor, engineer, accountant. The term
implies expertise, competence and also ability to earn high pay for the
skills acquired. It is never a term applied to unpaid caregivers, not
even to very skilled ones, thereby ignoring their competence.
professional – in sports the amateur is defined as
not paid to perform while the professional
is paid. The designation of professional often
focuses on money and in the care sector has
created some ironies. Since caregiving is a role
that, like swimming, is often learned through
mentorship and experience, the formal book
qualifications have not been many. However
once care roles became part of government
planning, and government only valued paid
care by third parties, the tendency in economics
was also to only consider competent those
who had formal training through courses and
certificates, and to discount experience, and to
call those with the book qualifications the
professionals at caregiving. This tilt to devaluing
the people who had been providing care for years
reached such an extreme that a Filipino mother
of three who had spent many years taking care of her
own children was not counted as eligible to be
a hired nanny in a Canadian government caregiver
program because she was deemed to have no experience
taking care of children unless she had had a paid job
taking care of children of someone else.
put food on the table, bring home the bacon, breadwinner – the popular
slogans for earning money interestingly are often concrete
images of home based roles. One might notice that the
justification for paid work, to be able to do these things
however does not value the person who actually does
serve the food, or cook the bacon or bake or serve
the bread. The idea that only money creates the
means to eat ignores the role of shopping for
food, gardening, preparing, serving the food,
teaching toddlers how to use a spoon or children
how to prepare a meal. Even in the images we
devalue the unpaid role/
quality of care – There are several problems with this expression.
First there are very few testable benchmarks for quality in what matters – outcomes for the child. The daycare movement makes very few objective claims about test scores for child’s literacy, fluency, physical fitness, dexterity. The daycare movement does not even try to measure these things
raising a child – Some in the unpaid care movement have implied that women who use full-time daycare see the child so little that the one ‘raising the child’ is the daycare. This also is emotionalism however and hurtful and should not be part of a scientific discussion. All parents are ‘raising’ their children.
reality / facts/ facing facts – the discussions about whether a
parent should be home with a child or out at paid work
are often emotional and personal. One common argument
is that a woman may wish to be home but the ‘reality’ is
she needs money so she had to go to paid work. This
compelling reality is undeniable. However there are other
realities. A crying baby that wants its parent could
also be seen as a reality. A mother who desperately
wants to be with her baby and will be very distraught
when not with it, is also a reality. When we face reality
we are wise to consider the various ways people look
at it. We might also notice that any tax or economic reality
we have set up for citizens is human made. If we had
a birth bonus and a significant maternity benefit for
all mothers of newborns, and a family based tax
and a significant family allowance or child dependent
deduction we would have created a different reality
where it was affordable to be home with the child
or to go to paid work and pay for a substitute caregiver,
or a combination of both. When governments argue
that some parents’ have to ‘ go to paid work and
that is their reality, we could point out that that is
a reality we have created and can change. When
the reality we designed forces babies from their
mothers it is a reality we morally should change.
regulated care –the daycare lobby assumes that only this type of care has value, and some actually call any other care ‘unregulated’ and even ‘illegal’. This is actually emotionalism creeping into the discussion because what is being called ‘illegal’ by that designation is care by a mother. This is emotionalism and inappropriate to a scientific discussion.
resources and parenting classes – when funding is noticed going preferentially
to 3rd party care of children not to family based care, some government
offer what they may consider an equivalent for parents not using daycare
-the drop in resource centre. Such centres however do not fund the
parent but only the centre and though without cost to the parent
also do not provide financial benefit, unlike daycares which take
over care of the child so the parent earns money. The resource
centre does not offset costs parents at home incur. A parenting
centre also sometimes gives advice to new parents and parenting
classes, which though useful also give the message that parents are
not knowledgeable or skilled. So the resouce centre as a match for government
funding to daycare centres is not nearly equivalent in financial support amount
or in message of valuing care styles other than 3rd party daycare.
retirement – is departure from the paid work world in economic terms. The
root of the word from tirer means to pull back, to move out of the
picture, ti withdraw. In that regard in GDP economics it has also come
to suggest a larger withdrawal however, – from being active, from
being productive, from being useful. Age discrimination against seniors
may be linked to the negative associations about those who no longer are
paid salary, as if to lack salary means to lack value. It is possible to
reconceive of the idea however and to look at retirement as retreading,
to use skills new ways and have new roles as senior advisers and mentors
or new volunteer and caregiving roles needed by society. Much of the
volunteer work in a country is done by those who are ‘retired’ and deemed
inactive but who are actually very active. In justice circles when a jury
retires to consider a verdict, they are doing some of their hardest and
most vital work. The retired often fund the education and housing
of some of their adult children and grandchildren and their bank savings
and investment often provide the funds to support business loans for
the nation. The idea they are useless and inactive in the economy
is inaccurate.
rights- The right of women to pay equity is a very much vaunted right
since the 1960s. Logically it does mean that women should
be paid the same as men despite any aspect their gender has
that previously was seen to disqualify them. So pregnancy,
breast feeding,tending a newborn, being home with a sick child
should all be possible and not penalized -not in salary, not in
promotion and not in pension.
However the argument has been tilted to look only at one slice
of it. If women have such rights to dignity for their care obligations
then surely those who choose to home with a child also have
those rights. To look down on such a choice actually denies
women the dignity and freedom that the women’s rights
movement says it endorses.
When we speak of the rights of the child, most international conventions
look at the right to clean air and water, the right to security, safety,
the right to adequate food and clothing and shelter, the right to an education.
Daycares can claim to provide all of those But so can parents.
When we look at the rights of the child to being raised in the
language, culture and religion of the parents, there may be more
of a challenge for daycares. When we look at the right of the
child to be raised with the diet adjustments and festive days of
that child’s culture, daycares may have a challenge providing
that or even knowing it. When we look at the right of the child
to the presence of the parent, the stable continuing presence of
the same adult for years, in order to have emotional stability
daycares may have a problem providing that, particularly with
large centres where kids move to new rooms and new
supervisors as they get each year older.
So the emphasis on rights can be looked at several ways.
Daycares can for sure ensure some rights of the child are met.
But it is parents who have the greatest ability to know and
the defended right to choose in all the decisions about
language, culture, religion, diet, personaliity.
When daycare advocates argue that women have the ‘right’ to
follow their dreams and have their careers, even when they have
children, that argument taps on the right to freedom to choose.
And yet if the option of being with the child is denied, that same
vaunted freedom is denied. Only by valuing all roles of women
(or men) is there freedom to choose.
The right of women to pay equity is a very much vaunted right
since the 1960s. Logically it does mean that women should
be paid the same as men despite any aspect their gender has
that previously was seen to disqualify them. So pregnancy,
breast feeding,tending a newborn, being home with a sick child
should all be possible and not penalized -not in salary, not in
promotion and not in pension.
However the argument has been tilted to look only at one slice
of it. If women have such rights to dignity for their care obligations
then surely those who choose to home with a child also have
those rights. To look down on such a choice actually denies
women the dignity and freedom that the women’s rights
movement says it endorses.
When we speak of the rights of the child, most international conventions
look at the right to clean air and water, the right to security, safety,
the right to adequate food and clothing and shelter, the right to an education.
Daycares can claim to provide all of those But so can parents.
When we look at the rights of the child to being raised in the
language, culture and religion of the parents, there may be more
of a challenge for daycares. When we look at the right of the
child to be raised with the diet adjustments and festive days of
that child’s culture, daycares may have a challenge providing
that or even knowing it. When we look at the right of the child
to the presence of the parent, the stable continuing presence of
the same adult for years, in order to have emotional stability
daycares may have a problem providing that, particularly with
large centres where kids move to new rooms and new
supervisors as they get each year older.
So the emphasis on rights can be looked at several ways.
Daycares can for sure ensure some rights of the child are met.
But it is parents who have the greatest ability to know and
the defended right to choose in all the decisions about
language, culture, religion, diet, personaliity.
When daycare advocates argue that women have the ‘right’ to
follow their dreams and have their careers, even when they have
children, that argument taps on the right to freedom to choose.
And yet if the option of being with the child is denied, that same
vaunted freedom is denied. Only by valuing all roles of women
servant – a person who provides duties for others, often out of
devotion. However in GDP economics the term implies
paid work, though somewhat of lesser value that other
paid work. The assumption of lower social status for
those who do as told, for those who wait on others
and enable them to succeed is a feature of GDP economics
that also links income to social rank. The servant
is paid less and pay is kept lower to ensure their
social status is not high and it becomes a vicious
circle. The one who performs roles to serve and wait on others
who is unpaid is socially then at the very lowest rung, since
they are not only expected to defer to others and also
not even recognized as working or their role as worth money.
In the women’s rights struggle, the assumption women at home
were to become servants of men was exacerbated by social
policy that required the woman to take the man’s name
and tax policy that assumed that the woman would be
financially dependent on the man, akin to having the status
of a child. As women tried to address this assumption, one
answer was for women to leave the home, have paid careers,
have their own money and not be seen as servant to
anyone. However that solution made required men
and women both to have paid work and to leave the care
role. The assumption the care role was the servant role and
itself the problem however has been studied again by
feminist writers. Another solution to the perception of lower
status for the care giver is to raise its status, and to allow
however does it, male or female, to get funding and
equality status for that role. In that way neither party
is seen as depending solely on the other and interdependence
is more recognized. The answer to not wanting to be seen as
only a servant may be to escape service roles, or it might be
to see the roles as mutual service and to respect doing them
as equal in value to the household.
service -, and one might assume the parallel is made to the police service, the ambulance service or public utilities. The expression conveys the impression of response to a universal public need and a community sharing of what all agree is essential. In fact not all people do agree daycare is a care style they want and since it does not make any provable claims about being an educational facility superior to other educational styles in the early years, then it is only one of several ways to reach a goal. To fund only the one route is therefore not a service but a prejudice, like asking the community to subsidize one hamburger restaurant and no other restaurants.
single parent’ and ‘lone parent household’ are also misleading. The terms suggest that the parent is raising the children without the presence of financial help of the spouse and yet this is often not the case. Separation and divorce agreements often provide for access to the child from the other spouse, if not outright joint custody and very often there is also provision for financial support, if not of the custodial spouse, at least of the child. That being the case, the ‘lone parent’ is far from alone in raising the child and the term is misleading. Many noncustodial spouses, often men, have expressed their dismay at census terminology that assumes that just because they live apart from the children sometimes, they are no longer active in the children’s lives. They feel very much that they are not ‘single’ as the census would indicate, but that they are fathers raising children. The census oddity of counting the children only one place does tend to degrade the role of such spouses, and sympathetically elevate the role of the parent with whom the children are counted. We may want to consider using expressions like ‘joint-custody parent’ or ‘shared custody parent’ to more accurately reflect the real situation.
slave – worker forced to do the labor, unpaid and without choice
or expressions of gratitude. In the women’s rights movement
the 1960s perception was that women in the home were
metaphorically enslaved there, unable to escape the stereotype
of dependency, lack of skill and the obstacles placed to paid
career and financial independence. The woman was sometimes
described as ‘chained to the sink’. In the 1990s when tax laws
and human rights laws changed to ensure women were able
to enter any profession, have pay equity there and job advancement
the same as men, the chain to the sink complaint was no longer
valid. However a new problem had become noticed. Now when
women were nudged to enter paid work, to have paid careers
even when their children were young, were only given
benefits even for caregiving such as maternity benefits
or leave time if they had paid work attachment, it was noticed
that women were not just as free as they had assumed they would
be. Now they could have any career except homemaker, and
they were could get financial recognition for any role except mother at home
This created the oddity that many who wanted to be home
with the baby could not. It was not made affordable and
they were chained now, to the office desk. Observers in
third wave feminism argued in the 2000s to liberate women
and men by ensuring they could pick the role – in paid career
or in the home as caregivers, with equal dignity and
adequate financial support that neither lifestyle was forced
by the state.
social security- logically is the guarantee of safety and protection in the
social milieu, and might imply financial security, safety, health
protection. It may imply the efforts of a community to ensure that
all of its members enjoy at least a basic level of protection without
fear of loss of food or residence or care in case of illness. In the GDP
economy however it has come to mean only that branch of a tax
system that hands out benefits to the poor, often money they
can use for basic needs. In fact security is multifaceted and the
guarantee you can still be with those you love, the guarantee
you will not be taken from them arbitrarily, that you can practise
your religion, act on your lawful beliefs without fear of penalty
is also vital to feeling secure in a society. The unpaid care sector
is a key provider of social security but oddly is seen not only as
not useful in it, but forced into financial need as if they are the
ones seeking social security. When their role is not valued with
money government looks at a very restricted definition of social
security.
socialization- should mean learning how to get along
with others, how to navigate personal relationships,
be a friend, share, take turns, be polite and kind.
However the paid care sector has often used the
term to imply that only they by large group
interactions enable children to have friends
or seniors to have social contacts. What is
often ignored by that restricted use is that babies
as they interact with the parent are already
being socialized and as they play with siblings
are already learning social skills, and as they
have playmates in the neighborhood and at
their churches and play groups and community
sports are already being socialized. Paid care
settings in large groups may offer more social
exposure but also more pressure, more competition
for attention and less chance of escape from
social interaction.
space – is a geographical measurement of a location and in economics
there are expressions like office space, living space. The dimensions
of the space for hospital beds, prison cells or office cubicles are
studied for physical needs and practical needs of those who
spend time there. However in the care sector, economics
often speaks of daycare ‘spaces’ not as physical locations but
as funded availabilities, a more abstract concept. Governments
are asked to fund daycare’ spaces’ to accommodate that number
of children. In some documents the child is also referred to
as a space. This funding formula to refer to people as the location
they occupy could be seen as demeaning as well as inefficient.
To fund a ‘space’ in case a child needs it, means the availability
is funded, whether used or not. This is like providing a free
hamburger on the counter at noon for every child, whether
or not they eat hamburgers or if they happen to prefer hot dogs.
staff ratio -in caregiving tallies are sometimes reported of the
number of caregivers compared to the number who need care.
This ratio of adults to children or staff to seniors at a nursing
home may be legislated as a minimal level to ensure attentive
care. However the reporting of such numbers can be deceptive
and manipulated. When costs of operating a care facility are
high, it is tempting for operators to have fewer staff and to list the
ratio counting all adults in the building such as cleaners,
cooks, drivers, office staff, as if they were directly interacting
with the care receiver. Ratios are also reported in ways
that may be misleading if the number of children in a group
is reported, such as fifteen three year olds to one adult, and
yet what is not reported is the number of children
in a room, such as 3-4 and 5 year olds all in the
same large room, in separate groups but with a noise
and distraction level that clearly operates as a very
large group.
stakeholder – the daycare movement assumes that those who are consulted about laws for care of children should be only the users of daycare. This however excludes all parents who also have a stake not only in care of children, but in the wellbeing of the nation’s children, philosophically. And it also excludes from the discussion those who have a financial stake because they are being asked to foot the bill for daycare by their taxes. And it excludes from the discussion mothers at home in a role that is historically female, which means the exclusion also deprives women of input into laws that affect them. These exclusions are actually contrary to accurate admissions of who actually are ‘stakeholders’.
stay home – the designation for a women or man who
is at home taking care of a child is often that
they do not ‘work’ and just ‘stay home’. They
are even labelled ‘stay-at-home ‘ moms or
dads. This designation however is also used
for a child who is sick and not at school or
an adult employee who is ill and requests that
they might stay home to rest and recover. The
expression therefore carries with it the suggestion
of not doing one’s duty, of not contributing
useful effort and of being vaguely malfunctioning.
and certainly lesser than those who ‘go to work’.
substitute – in most paid jobs the one who does the job most
of the time may require a stand in or subsitute
from time to time and this person usually has to
be as qualified as the one being replaced. Doctors in
emergency wards are on a rotation and each one
is very qualified and is paid well based on those
skills. They take turns but are all equal. However
with unpaid caregivers, economics not only considers
their work of no value and worth no remuneration
but also if they are unable to do the role due to
illness and have to get a substitute, the status
of this person is also unique. If the stand in is
a relative such as the grandparent, as if often
the case, that person also is required to be an
unpaid caregiver since pay for care of a family
member is not legally a paid position that can
be deducted as a cost. If however the substitute’
available is a stranger, or nonfamily member friend
not only is that person payable but suddenly
in economics terms, that person is doing useful
work, is providing respite care and may even
be subsidized by government. This concept of
the regular worker deserving no remuneration but
the substitute getting remuneration is another
evidence of the unfair devaluing of the traditional care
role.]
support – should mean encouragement but in the
law child support and spousal support are only
about money. Emotional support is not considered
support.
The daycare lobby says it offers support for parents by operating daycares. This expression is problematic..
First the claim is made that people need daycare so women can earn. The expression is often used that daycare is for people who ‘need to or choose to ‘ work. Aside from the misuse of the term work discussed earlier, the distinction is not made between having to earn and choosing to earn, though in a democracy these are quite different motivations. Support for someone who chooses a role, is probably a positive thing but support to help someone who is forced away from what she wants, by helping her be forced away, is not nearly as positive. It would be as conceivable to support this parent by helping her not have to leave.
Second, the ‘support’ offered is of either two types. One is advice and counseling. Another is a series of ‘programs’ such as toy lending, play groups and other non- home based activities. And another is input into how the daycare is run. All of these supports are again a win for the daycare operator because the money flows only to the daycare operator not the parent. The support for the parent is in essence having a store the parent can or cannot shop at. This idea of support is problematic because not all parents want the advice and many do not wish to borrow the toys . When we learn there is a clothing store in the neighborhood that will tell us how to dress, that may not really be seen as ‘support’ by all the people in the district. objective/ subjective data collectio
system- a comprehensive, organized plan with associated
levels of administration and predictability of function
When 3rd party care activists ask for a system of
childcare to be funded by government, they are usually
seeking not only standardized care but also continued
funding for that particular care as a permanent commitment
and branch of government services. The appeal of such a
plan for child operators is to have guaranteed jobs
and for parents in theory is to have assurance that wherever
they put the child the child will be safe and receive predictable
care. However the argumment for a system also usually precludes
funding any other care styles, and often asks for the flow
of funding to not even to the parent to make choices but to
go to the childcare facility directly. Such a funding formula
would therefore only benefit the users and operators of
that one care style.
tax – the amount of money paid to government from the individual
or business as its share of the general community interest in
education, defense, safe roads, policing, health care. etc.
The amount of tax paid is linked to the ability to pay so
the rich have more ability to pay and are required to pay
higher tax than do the poor. The amount of money left over
after one pays tax is what they can ‘live on’ and in capitalist
societies the amount left over is calculated to still allow
the rich to be rich, to be an incentive and reward for hard
work. What is interesting is that the unpaid caregiver
who is not paid and therefore is assumed to not pay tax
is actually also viewed as lazy in the economy and
in some nations households with a nonearning spouse
pay higher tax than those with two partners who both earn.
The unpaid caregiver also might be seen as paying the
highest tax of all – for all of her effort and service are
provided for others and she has nothing left over in
cash at all after paying this ‘tax ‘ in kind. Her tax
rate therefore is 100%.
time off – in businesses, time is closely linked to money.
Some people punch a clock to count their hours
and take a timed lunch break or coffee break.
They are paid by the hour or day and salaries
are often paid and reported based on time eg
per month, per year. Taxis charge for unit
of time of travel and deliveries offer service
based on time the customer has to wait. The idea
that time is money creates the corollary that money
is also time – and for the unwaged worker suggests
that without money they also are not wiser
users of time, have endless leisure time and
are always taking time ‘off’ from work because
they are not at paid work. When women leave
a paid job to have a baby they are said to be
taking time ‘off’ as if it were leisure. This strong
association of money and time, with paid work
and value has led to expressions that may even
have stigma. The ‘part time worker’ who has a paid job
only for 20 hours a week not 40, may have chosen that
job schedule in order to also be an unpaid caregiver
in the home. However the designation part time worker
also implies that they only work at all, half the time.
The expression has even been used as if a badge
of identity where a job ad might say “part time
person needed’. This use of the expression to
recognize a person’s work, worth and even personhood
based on their paid work shows a significant stigma
to unpaid roles.
training – this again is seen as a good thing by daycare lobbyists who also never specify what the training involves, how much it costs or the career advancement incentives of money or promotion that may be involved. What is also not every clearly indicated is how much time the staff person takes away from the child in order to get training. In a situation of very young children attachment develops to a significant adult and failure to attach to someone has been linked to much emotional and mental anguish in later years. We want young children to feel specially close to someone. And yet if the childcare setting does not provide consistency of the same person day after day after day, the child will actually suffer emotionally. In my experience absence of a teacher even for one day due to illness upsets small children in kindergarten because they are just forming their ideas of what can be counted on in life and their own understandings or routines and how the world works. If we take the adult away too often for ‘training’ the child actually suffers. We are also not told how substitute care workers are hired when there is absence of the regular staff person and we are not told clearly how often any given child has a change in caregiver as the child ages. Much research has shown that children need the same caregiver for the first 3 years and yet few care centers provide that consistency, often moving the child into a new age- group every year. These changes in who is the caregiver may seem only administrative to the daycare operator but to the young child they are potentially the most important facet of the daycare and can be very upsetting if not traumatic.
universal- applying to all. Such a term is often used when caregiving
advocates ask for a 3rd party care system to be available to
all who may want it, therefore ‘universally’. However one might
notice that the argument usually is for funding to not go to
those who do not use that 3rd party care, so it is not in fact
of universal benefit, only of benefit to those who use it.
A truly universal system would fund every child everywhere
and then parents could decide what type of care to provide
the child.
unpaid, unwaged, unremunerated – should mean
simply not receiving money for the role performed.
In GDP economics however the lack of pay not
only means the role is ignored but also suggests
that the role had no value, was not useful
and that it even should be discouraged. In that
regard the linking of pay to value also has had
the negative effect emotionally on those whose
work is unpaid that they also may start to feel
their work is of low value to society also,even if it is tending
and nurturing lives of those they love.
unpaid work-work that is not compensated by money. The
GDP economy is blind to such work done in the
home and to volunteer work because it assumes that
only when an activity is paid is it work and only when
it is paid does it benefit the economy. However, there
is one category of unpaid work the GDP economy does
recognize- unpaid internship at the office. In that
situation a worker whose role would be paid if done
by a trained worker is not paid because they are deemed
to not offer a high enough quality of work to yet merit
pay. The trades have often had a qualifying window
for trainees and in some cases businesses can offer
a stage of employment where the worker is low paid
or even has to purchase their own uniform, so
has to pay the employer for the privilege of learning
to do the work. This stage however has come under scrutiny
of labor lawyers given that it presents an opportunity for
employers to get a lot of work done for free, without having
to provide a fair wage. These principles of fair compensation
however suddenly are ignored for the care sector in the
home. There the activities are all assumed to be done
for free, and one might also notice that in GDP economics
there is also a stigma that those who are unpaid workers
interning at a business are not very competent at that
role. This term use then may imply oddly that the caregiver
of the family, in the home is not only not useful but is
also somewhat incompetent.
volunteer – a person who performs an activity without pay.
GDP economics does not tally or notice such activity
even though it may be a vital part of how a community
handles crisis, deals with illness, helps during
life events like weddings and funerals. helps train
children in sports. reads to the blind or drives the
sick to medical appointments. The unpaid care sector
not only is not thanked for such activity but is in
traditional economics actually discouraged from doing
it by being pressured to devote time to full time not
part time paid jobs by preference as if only in that
way are they of most benefit to the economy.
waiting on someone – providing a service, satisfying the needs and
demands of another. The term interestingly not only implies
subservience and dedication to another’s wishes as a priority
but also interestingly prioritizing their time as more valuable
than your own. You wait for them to call you, you wait for
their direction, your time is their time. In the women’s
movement a key observation of women who provided
care in the home, is that there were always there, that
for them time has no meaning and a person need not
inform them specifically of when they might arrive
because their time had no value. Plumbers, appliance
repair people often did not even make appointments
at specific times to come to the home, under the
assumption that the person there would just wait.
ward of the state – a minor child who has been deemed unable
to receive care by a parent or other family member and
is put into the care of the state. Being a ward of the
state,uses a word with historic meaning of protection
and being guarded and kept safe. The warden of property
guards it and the term has associations with administrative
formal institutions such as electoral wards, hospital wards
and prison wards. The warden is paid by the institution.
Again, in the GDP economy the traditional protector of
the family, the parent, is not recognized as doing the useful
service that the state recognizes of 3rd parties.
work- is effort expended . Logically it is used in expressions such as work the land, work the dough till it is soft, housework, yard work. However in
economics none of those efforts is counted
as work and work is limited to roles that lead to the
flow of money, paid roles.
The term work also implies an onerous task, effort expended so a difficult task
while an easy or pleasant task is not seen as work. By that usage
if a person gets pleasure from what they do, as caregivers may
admit, this is uniquely for their role seen as a disqualifer for pay. Doctors or lawyers who enjoy what they do are, by contrast, not then required to forego financial recognition.
working – the term implies operating well, functionning
properly so that a working vacuum cleaner is not
broken. In economics however this has led to the
expression ‘working woman ‘ to identify and
value the woman who receives pay. However this
expression also implies that some women are not
not ‘working women’, and that other designation
then for a woman in the home doing a care role
for instance, suggests she is broken. This assumption
of failure, of malfunction, of deficit, of the care
role at home, of not using skills, of not using
their education, at not entering the paid labor
force to show their liberated empowerment,
also tended to degrade the care role in the home.
In formal economics a working engineer is someone who is
currently being paid as an engineer. However the
expression ‘working mother’ is used in economics
to refer to a mother who is doing paid work in addition
to mothering and often apart from the children at the
time. This usage is not fully logical or conssitent
In the US the slogan of the National Organization
for Women became “Every mother is a working
mother”
working for.. When people speak of why they do paid work. the answers
may be revealing. Some say they work to put food on the table, for the money.
Some say the work for the company, the airline or the train company
that they have come to believe in for its mission and purpose.
Some say they work for love of the job, because they really
enjoy how they can use their skills or serve the community
policing or nursing. There are many reasons to do paid work.
Many feel very strongly that as they are earning they still are caregivers
and that while not with those they love, their money is still vital
to support the care, to pay for the clothes, house, food, schooling
and to hire a substitute caregiver if they are not there. They are
full-time parents even when not at home full time with the
children. However the unpaid caregiver who is with the ones
needing care, is no less committed to the role they have chosen.
They may love it, they may be devoted to those they take care of
and they may do it out of love, just the same as how some paid workers do it out
of love. The difference is not the love. The difference is the money
When unpaid caregivers are not permitted income for doing
what has to be done, what they love to do, that is vital for society
there is an oddity that must be addressed.
work related expenses – costs incurred in order to do the job and not discreationary
or optional. These are deemed ‘income-earning related expenses” and many
are tax deductible. Family caregivers are to permitted to claim any costs
for their care role, not food or toys though childcare operators
can deduct those, not travel though childcare operators can deduct those
and not furniture for children such as cribs, highchairs or playpens
though childcare centres can deduct those.
Equality and Caregiving 