{"title":"Unpaid care work among women in South Asia: A systematic review","authors":"Saumya Tripathi, Sameena Azhar, Fuhua Zhai","doi":"10.1111/aswp.12268","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The specific aims of this systematic review are to (1) understand the prevalence and context for women's unpaid care work in South Asia, (2) explore factors that affect the prevalence of unpaid care work, and (3) identify gaps in the extant research on unpaid care work that influence women's lives. Using the Cochrane Handbook and PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, we searched 18 databases and identified 13 research studies. Drawing on the devaluation framework, we found three main recurring themes in the selected studies. First, women in South Asia disproportionately share the burden of unpaid care work responsibilities. Second, due to sociocultural norms, unpaid care work is unrecognized and devalued as are those who perform it. Third, flexible working arrangements for women are not currently being offered. We conclude that there is a need for care work policies that incorporate the unique cultures, demographics, and labor markets in South Asian contexts.</p>","PeriodicalId":44567,"journal":{"name":"Asian Social Work and Policy Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Asian Social Work and Policy Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aswp.12268","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"SOCIAL WORK","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The specific aims of this systematic review are to (1) understand the prevalence and context for women's unpaid care work in South Asia, (2) explore factors that affect the prevalence of unpaid care work, and (3) identify gaps in the extant research on unpaid care work that influence women's lives. Using the Cochrane Handbook and PRISMA guidelines for systematic reviews, we searched 18 databases and identified 13 research studies. Drawing on the devaluation framework, we found three main recurring themes in the selected studies. First, women in South Asia disproportionately share the burden of unpaid care work responsibilities. Second, due to sociocultural norms, unpaid care work is unrecognized and devalued as are those who perform it. Third, flexible working arrangements for women are not currently being offered. We conclude that there is a need for care work policies that incorporate the unique cultures, demographics, and labor markets in South Asian contexts.
期刊介绍:
There is a growing recognition that major social trends, such as the process of globalization, rapidly changing demography, increasing psycho-social difficulties in individuals and families, growing economic disparities within and between the nations, and international migration, present important challenges for social policies and social work practices in Asia. It also has become evident that social policy strategies and social work methods must be developed and implemented in the context of Asian region''s own histories, cultures, and unique developmental trajectories in order to respond effectively to those emerging challenges. The Asian Social Work and Policy Review seeks to encourage exchanges of original ideas, rigorous analysis of experiences, innovative practice methods founded on local knowledge and skills of problem solving in the areas of social work and social policy between various countries in Asia.