Hildegard Theobald, University of Vechta

Costanzo Ranci, Politecnico of Milano

In many countries, the situation of care professions in several fields, such as long-term care, care for adults with disabilities, or early childhood education and care, is characterized by poor employment and working conditions, which are often accompanied by a shortage of care staff. Processes of marketization of care services have exacerbated these difficult conditions. Against this background, political and civil society actors in many countries have developed and partially implemented approaches to change.

Within the framework of the thematic panel, the conditions and changes in care work in the three fields – long-term care, care for adults with disabilities, or early childhood education and care – will be discussed broadly from different perspectives.

This includes, for example:

• An analysis of the working and employment conditions, possible changes and explanations for the changes.
• Analysis and reconstruction of the characteristics of the care labour market (contracts, entry requirements, wage levels, job precariousness….)
• Analysis of the characteristics and internal dfferentiation of the care labour force: nationality, migration status, age, gender, etc…
• Approaches to change that are developed jointly or separately by political or civil society actors, as well as the social support or resistance they experience during the development.
• Processes of implementing the approaches at different levels of society, such as at different levels of politics, in institutions, service providers etc. Here, too, forms of support, possible coalitions or resistance can be discussed.
• The consequences that are already recognizable or expected. In addition, to the possible change of the working- and employment conditions, this also applies to broader issues such as the social recognition of care work, inequality dynamics based on an intersection of gender, migration status or ethnicity or class etc.

Theoretically-oriented or empirically-oriented papers can be submitted. The papers can analyze the situation in one field or compare the situation and changes in the three fields. The papers can refer to the situation or possible changes in one country or to a cross-country comparison.