The analysis presented here aims to inform policy making and interventions that enhance the role of the care economy in South Africa’s development and social well-being, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. [...] Such a model expresses the care roles of men and of women, and the role of paid and unpaid work in earning income and providing for the material security and well-being of family members.” Therefore, understanding these policies in relation to care involves scrutinising how they support or undermine the caregiving roles assigned to different members of society, particularly in terms of gender dist. [...] This synthesis of GEAR’s macroeconomic policies into the social policy arena through the WPSW demonstrates a clear pathway that continues to influence the fabric of the South African social policy land- scape, echoing neoliberal tenets that have profound implications for the distribution of care responsibilities and the conceptualisation of welfare and social services in the nation. [...] However, acknowledgement of the burden of care and the potential of social relief programmes is eroded, as the White Paper ultimately stresses a “familialist understanding of care”, in which the practice of care is largely “relegated to the separate, private sphere of ‘households’ and ‘families’” (Sevenhuijsen et al. [...] The WPSW problematises the overreliance, particularly among the white population, on institutional care for older people and the “inappropriate emphasis on the Government’s responsibility for the care of the aged” (De- partment of Welfare 1997, p.
- Pages
- 50
- Published in
- South Africa
Table of Contents
- _heading=h.30j0zll 4
- _heading=h.3znysh7 5
- _heading=h.tyjcwt 10
- _heading=h.3dy6vkm 15
- _heading=h.1t3h5sf 21
- _heading=h.2s8eyo1 21
- _heading=h.3rdcrjn 26
- _heading=h.26in1rg 29
- _heading=h.lnxbz9 32
- _heading=h.35nkun2 32
- _heading=h.44sinio 37
- _heading=h.2jxsxqh 39
- _heading=h.z337ya 47
- 1. Introduction 4
- 2. What is the care economy? 5
- 3. Apartheid and post-apartheid dynamics in the migrant labour system and the implications for care 10
- 4. Social policy and the care diamond in post-apartheid South Africa 15
- 5. The system of social provision: social security, welfare services and grants 21
- 5.1 Social security 21
- 5.2 Social welfare 26
- 5.3 Public/private divide 29
- 6. Who cares? 32
- 6.1 Value of the care workforce 32
- 6.2 Care is undertaken by older persons 37
- 7. Discussion: From social policy to a transformative national care policy 39
- 8. References 47
