Ricardo Rodrigues, Lisbon School of Economics and Management, University of Lisbon,

Norah Keating, University of Stirling

Policy documents such as the European Care Strategy stress the importance of ameliorating long term impacts on carers’ health, income or social connections arising from limited access to affordable care services and care leave schemes. Long periods of informal care for children, people with disability or older people may result in diminished possibilities for career advancement and lower wages during one’s working life leading to lower pensions and increased risk of poverty later in life. Such diminished resources may in turn may limit the possibilities of fulfilling their right to receive needed care in old-age. The European Care Strategy recognizes the potential for cumulative disadvantages and the interplay between different life course domains (e.g. care, family life and employment), although our knowledge of these processes is limited.

In this thematic panel we invite papers that take a life course perspective on the impact of care on carers’ income, poverty risk, transmission of (dis)advantage across generations, and/or wellbeing. Topics may include cumulative disadvantages across the life-course or how inequalities in old-age are associated with earlier periods of care. We welcome papers on unpaid as well as paid workers and those that explore cross-country (or care regimes) differences in relation to potential tensions between care receivers rights and carers obligations to care. Although we make reference to the European Care Strategy, papers need not to be confined to Europe. Empirical research may be underpinned by either qualitative or quantitative research methods, but should in any case be framed by theoretical concepts and demonstrate how it contributes to strengthening the theoretical knowledge base at the intersection of care across the life course with the right to care.

Discussant: TBC