Carefair : Choice, Duty, and the Distribution of Care

Abstract

Men's care patterns are relatively inelastic despite dramatic shifts in women's labor force participation. The article recommends a caregiving analogue to workfare that would use policy more aggressively to influence men's choices between employment and care. The carefair concept is defended by invoking two arguments for enforcing work duties common in liberal regimes: the moral hazard argument and the new paternalist competence argument. The logics explicit in these arguments resonate substantially with theorists and practitioners in the liberal cultural milieu and can be appropriated to justify state intervention that would challenge both patriarchal socialization patterns and economic incentives.