Women, Work and Care in the Asia-Pacific

This book provides a comparative analysis of the social, economic, industrial and migration dynamics that structure women’s paid work and unpaid care work experience in the Asia-Pacific region. Each country-focused chapter examines the formal and informal ways in which work and care are managed, the changing institutional landscape, gender relations and fertility concerns, employer and trade union responses and the challenges policy makers face and the consequences of their decisions for working women. By covering the entire region, including Australia and New Zealand, the book highlights the way different national work and care regimes are linked through migration, with wealthier countries looking to their poorer neighbours for alternative sources of labour. In addition, the book contributes to debates about the barriers to women’s participation in the workforce, the valuation of unpaid care, the gender wage gap, social protection and labour regulation for migrant workers and gender relations in developing Asia.

"The book highlights that despite significant differences in care and work regimes, barriers to women’s access to the labour market remain strong across the board. The pressure points for each country are different in accordance with their historical and cultural development, but they all point to emerging needs for change in the role of women care and work patterns."Annick Masselot, Labour & Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work

Marian Baird is Professor of Gender and Employment Relations and Director of the Women and Work Research Group at the University of Sydney Business School, Australia.Michele Ford is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies and Director of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia.Elizabeth Hill is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, Australia.