Defamilisation and familisation risks, adult worker models, and pro-employment/decommodification measures for women: the case of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with the research areas of defamilisation/familisation and adult worker models. It particularly focuses on demonstrating how the study of government pro-employment and decommodification measures for reducing defamilisation and familisation risks faced by women contributes to the examination of the adult worker models. It presents three analytical tasks. The first is to categorise the adult worker models into four types (market-focused, supported, choice-focused and collective consumption) based on different combinations of the pro-employment and decommodification measures. The second is to explore the relative desirability of these four types in enhancing women’s well-being. Based on the case example of Hong Kong, the third is to examine issues concerning the application of the adult worker models in the analysis of how the government responds to defamilisation and familisation risks.