Caring Futures: Australian Attitudes About the Desirability of Care Work

Abstract

Amid increasing public and policy attention on the care and support sector, which millions of Australians rely upon for essential services, care workers continue to advocate for better pay and fairer conditions. This article draws on the concepts of recognition, value and social distribution from feminist ethics of care scholarship to explore how public perceptions of pay, job security, and working conditions shape attitudes towards care work. It also investigates how personal experiences of unpaid caregiving influence whether people view care work as fulfilling and their likelihood of considering a future job in the care sector. Using data from an original, representative survey, the findings demonstrate that positive perceptions of job security and working conditions are strongly correlated with the view that care work is fulfilling, while those who regard pay in the sector as fair are significantly more likely to consider future employment in the care sector. These findings underscore the urgent need for workforce planning and policy reforms that affirm the societal value of care work by enhancing job security, pay adequacy and working conditions, addressing long-standing calls from feminist care scholars for a fairer and more sustainable care economy.