Psychology of Care: Care isn't seen as work because women do it

People love it when the female-dominated care workforce go ‘the extra mile’; rationalising their sacrifice is for the greater good of elderly and disabled - but doing extra work unpaid lets society and the law off the hook, says an acclaimed law lecturer.

’Institutionalised humiliation’

The ‘institutionalised humiliation’ of the care workforce is still being played out in the UK according to Dr Lydia Hayes, who argues care staff can be taken advantage of by the law which doesn’t fix but keeps the care system broken.

The law lecturer at Cardiff University puts it simply: “Law has a problem understanding care as work”.

She argues the existing crisis in social care is sanctioned by a ‘gendered inadequacy’ in the UK’s labour laws.

Home care is a growing source of low-waged work for women. More than a million women provide care to the country's older and disabled people living in their own homes but working class women are “institutionally humiliated" by this gendered inadequacy, she says.

It is a viewpoint expanded in her book ‘Stories of Care: A Labour of law’, which lifts the lid on the working lives of home care workers.

Bin collectors valued more by council

As female home care workers across Glasgow joined an 8,000-strong mass walk out with nursery workers last year, the striking women on the picket line were protesting against equal pay discrimination impacting hundreds of home care services.

Women working in Glasgow City Council’s female-dominated home care services are paid less to care for the elderly than those in male-dominated services whose job it is to collect the bins.

If the majority of home care workers were middle-class men, the question is would the same problems of inadequate pay exist? The mindset of how home care workers are treated by the legal system is, Dr Hayes, argues a reflection of how society itself treats working class females.

The ‘moral landscape’ of the family doesn’t help the female-dominated care workforce, as caring becomes a way of life. Traditionally, women are known for giving out care for free with unpaid work at home, whether it be for their children or ageing parents; they are considered natural nurturers.

“Equal pay law was supposed to ensure that the blight of sexism in pay-setting was eradicated. Not so for care workers”.

She argues inadequacies in equal pay law “perpetuate the historic subordination of women in low-waged work, exemplify the economic invisibility of skills and abilities which are thought to arise ‘naturally’ in women”. The crisis facing social care will never be fixed, she says, without a reform of labour law.

Dr Hayes interviewed home care workers; all female and working class; and described typical home care worker characters in her book ‘Stories of Care’.

“My ex-husband fixes cars. I fix people”, says a character called the ‘Cheap Nurse’ in Dr Hayes book.

"He says he couldn’t do my job. Why should he get more money for being a car mechanic?

"People think us women aren’t worth much. I’m the wage earner in this house and well, you wouldn’t expect a man to live on what I live on every month. It is nursing we are nursing, but I think we’re still seen as domestic workers”.

In a care workforce, unpaid overtime can be a badge of honour worn proudly by some of the workforce, says Dr Hayes. It’s so prevalent, she has called the familiar character trait Mother Superior in her book.

Mother Superior; like a self-sacrificial lamb for the cause, believes in the personal benefit of the work of care and is more likely to accept low pay. The psychology being a ‘good’ woman are happy to work without pay. Her motivation is love not economic reward. Mother Superior’s viewpoint is ripe for exploitation.

‘Nelly’ gets no dinner due to 'culture or non-payment'

"Out there we are two-a-penny" says a home care worker whose words have been highlighed in Dr Lydia’s book in a character she calls ‘Two-a-Penny’.

Two-a-Penny says she is paid "only while you’re in the house". "All that is going through my mind is, Right, I’ve got half an hour to get out of here, because I am not paid if I go over my time.

“When you start rushing a job you can make mistakes. You are so worried about that, you forget Nelly hasn’t had no dinner.”

Severe cuts to social care provision since 2010 by governments has led to less money for home care services and unmet care needs for millions of older and disabled people.

Home care bosses in 2014 calculated care workers went unpaid for, on average almost a fifth of their work time (19 per cent) because their travel time between home care clients was not paid.

They also worked unpaid for time spent waiting for ambulances and waiting for co-workers to help them lift heavy clients.

Legal judgements 'undermine' care work

“An engrained culture of non-payment in the care industry has been made possible by the inadequacy of UK minimum wage law”, Dr Hayes has said.

Claire Tomlinson-Blake is a care worker employed by Royal Mencap Society to support adults with learning difficulties living at home. Working overnight ‘sleep-in’ shifts, she is paid a flat rate of £29.05 for eight hours. With thousands of care workers not paid the minimum wage for ‘sleep-ins’, employers have expressed anger that they must pay care workers what is legally owed, without government funding.

The Court of Appeal found in favour of Mencap last year– effectively removing care workers’ entitlement to minimum wage protection. The trade union UNISON argues ‘sleep-ins’ (which can see staff on their feet all night) should count as work and the Supreme Court recently granted permission for an appeal against the Mencap v Tomlinson-Blake [2018] judgment.

Since Dr Hayes' acclaimed book was published, she feels not much has changed for home care workers.

"I can’t think of another job where if you are in your uniform you weren’t paid" highlights Dr Hayes. “I hope the Supreme Court will overturn the decision because care work has to be recognised as economic work and the kind of job people want to stay in.” The average staff turnover rate in social care is 30 per cent a year - the biggest turnover rate of all job sectors in the UK. It has risen by 21 per cent since 2009, according to Skills for Care.

What the care industry needs is “employment rights which create sustainable jobs that care workers aspire to and older people need”, Dr Hayes adds.

Making a female-dominated workforce feel valued is the job of politicians holding the nations' purse strings, care bosses, the courts and society as a whole. Perhaps only this will guarantee that ‘Nelly’ always gets her dinner.