Care Leaves and Care Time for All : Towards Caring Democracies, Economies, and Worlds.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Doucet, Andrea.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (199 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bristol : Policy Press, 2026.

Summary:

What if care was at the heart of how we organise our societies and economies? This timely book challenges the narrow focus of current leave policies on early parenthood and argues for a broader, more inclusive, approach to care across the life course, including eldercare and diverse family structures.

Contents:

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

List of figures, tables, and boxes

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Introduction: 'Creating time and space for care'

Why Tronto?

Care leaves

Care time

'Creating time and space for care'

Our bold, yet modest proposal: care leaves and care time for all

Why this is a bold proposal

From parenting leaves to care leaves and care time across the life course: a temporal and social-​ecological shift

From care leaves as conditional employment benefits to care leaves and care time as universal social rights with a 'Care Income' (CI): a shift to inclusiveness

From care leaves as conditional employment benefits to care leaves and care time as part of an expanded approach to 'Universal Basic Services' (UBS): shifting to a new conceptual framework

Why this is a modest proposal

Policies are always works-​in-​progress, and so is our proposal

Policies can have unintended consequences

We are not prescriptive

Care leaves and care time are part of a larger landscape of care policies

The current context is challenging

We are modest about taking credit for the ideas in this book

Who are we, and why we are writing this book?

Peter

Andrea

Mapping this book

One Concepts: care, care time, caring democracies, caring economies, and caring worlds

Care

Care is relational

Care is responsive

Care is about the response-​abilities for care

Care time as relational and responsive: slow time and process time

Care time, work time, and responsibilities

Caring democracies

Caring democracies and relational care rights and responsibilities

Caring democracies and responsive care

Caring democracies and caring responsibilities

Caring economies.

Relationalities: care and economies, care and work, reproduction and social reproduction

Caring economies as responsive: issues of decommodification

Caring economies and government responsibilities

Caring worlds

Conclusion

Two Contexts: care crises and a polycrisis

Living in the polycrisis

The crises of care and the polycrisis

Care crises and neoliberalism

Three Care leaves across time: selective histories and key issues

A short history of leave policies

The evolution of parenting leaves

Maternity Leave

Parental Leave and Paternity Leaves

From parenting leaves to wider care leaves

A (selective) global overview of care leaves

Parenting leaves

Paternity Leave

Parental Leave

Other parenting leaves

Other types of care leaves

Long-​Term Care Leave

Emergency Leave

Care leaves: four take​aways

Leave types and terminologies are not uniform

Gender differences in design and take-​up

A narrow range of leaves and little or no attention to paid care time

Global differences in care leave policies

Where we are today: key issues and gaps

Financial generosity of care leaves

A focus on fathers and gender-​equality issues

Paid parenting leaves for fathers

Gender equality?

Family diversity

Social inclusion

Flexibility

The workplace and its impacts on gendered take-​up of parenting leaves

A narrow range of care leaves

The relationship between parenting leave and early childhood education and care services

Four A bold, yet modest proposal: care leaves and care time for all

The bold part of our proposal

A proposal in three separate, but connected parts

From parenting leaves to care leaves and care time across the life course: a temporal and social-​ecological shift.

From care leaves as conditional employment benefits to care leaves and care time as universal social rights with a CI: a shift to inclusiveness

From care leaves as conditional employment benefits to care leaves and care time as part of an expanded approach to UBS: shifting to a new conceptual framework

The modest part of our proposal: recognising dilemmas and tensions

Conditional or unconditional care leaves and care time: should 'surfers be fed'?

Progress or pitfall: is there a risk of entrenching gendered 'privileged irresponsibility' in paid work and unpaid care work?

Could this bold approach 'travel' (for example to the Global South, to diverse communities, and different family forms)?

Can we afford this bold approach?

Can we manage this bold approach?

Five Care entitlements: imagining caring democracies, economies, and worlds

A caring economy, a caring democracy, a caring world

Care Leaves and Care Time for All

What are 'fictitious examples'?

Our bold, yet modest proposal in the CW Republic: seven guiding principles for care entitlements

(i) Individual rights

(ii) Flexibility

(iii) Diversity

(iv) Gender equality

(v) Social inclusion

(vi) A care income

(vii) Evaluating care giving and care receiving

Our bold, yet modest proposal in the CW Republic: five categories of care leaves and care time

(i) Parenting Leaves and Parenting Time

Pregnancy/​Birth Leave and Pregnancy/​Birth Time

Parental Leave and Parental Time

Extended Parental Leave and Extended Parental Time

Temporary Parental Leave and Temporary Parental Time

(ii) Reproductive Care Leaves and Reproductive Care Time

(iii) Adult Care Leaves and Adult Care Time

(iv) Health Care Leaves and Health Care Time

(v) Lifetime Care Entitlements to Care Leaves and Care Time.

The CW Republic: fictitious examples in an imaginary place and time

Anna, mid-​life decisions about care/work: Lifetime Care Entitlements and Adult Care Leave

Freddy and Teddy, new parents responding to multiple care needs: Parenting Leaves, Parenting Time, and Lifetime Care Entitlements

Larry and Mary, parenting a child with special needs: Parenting Leaves

Andy, a paid care support worker at Grace's school: Health Care Leave and Lifetime Care Entitlements

Rachel, a Malibu surfer committed to ecological work: Lifetime Care Entitlements

Claire and Blair, an IVF journey: Parenting Leaves, Parenting Time, Reproductive Care Leave and Reproductive Care Time

Sequoyah, language and cultural reclamation: Lifetime Care Entitlements

Conclusion: 'We need a global political awakening'

The modest part of our bold, yet modest proposal

The bold part of our bold, yet modest proposal

Centring care leaves and care time

Care Time: the boldest part?

Moving from 'we have got things backward' to 'turn[ing] our world[s]‌ around'

Rethinking the relationship between care time and work time

From homo economicus to homo curans and homo ecologicus

Rethinking dependency: who is dependent on whom?

A radical rethinking of care and neoliberalism

The first and last word

Notes

Introduction

two

three

four

five

References

Index.

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-4473-7529-7

9781447375296

OCLC:

1579846847