Abstract
The current care crisis and the increasing outsourcing of care work in the context of neoliberal reorganisation are major issues currently being addressed within feminist science. On the basis of these gendered characteristics of the new global division of labour, this theoretical article aims to bring two heavily discussed approaches in this field together: intersectional theory and the Foucauldian concept of governmentality. The article suggests that there are three different theoretical or methodological ways that these complex approaches might be combined. Discussing the mutual benefit, it then goes on to deal critically with the concept of intersectionality as a current dominant and widespread feminist theory, which tries to capture social complexity.
Highlights
The current care crisis and the increasing outsourcing of care work in the context of neoliberal reorganisation are major issues currently being addressed within feminist science
‘Behind every successful woman is a nanny’. This cynical adage pointedly refers to the current care crisis and thereby to the increasing outsourcing of care work in the context of neoliberal reorganisation
The underlying reason for this outsourcing is that women are exposed to two different and conflicting modes of subjectification: on the one hand, they have to manage their daily work as an employee, and on the other they are expected to embody femininity and be caring and emotional individuals (Ludwig, 2006). This implies that the rising labour participation of women and the absence of fair gender-based labour division in the home generate a need for care workers, and these workers are often recruited internationally
Summary
‘Behind every successful woman is a nanny’. This cynical adage pointedly refers to the current care crisis and thereby to the increasing outsourcing of care work in the context of neoliberal reorganisation. Political and demographic circumstances (Brodie, 2004:19), the transition has made itself felt in the decline of birth rates (in some countries), the increasing break-up of traditional lifestyles and relationships (Gerhard, 2003:56) and in falling earnings (Winker, 2011:41) This has led to the emergence of new personal and social risks for men and women, giving birth to governmental reform and institutional transformation (Brodie, 2004:19). In the space of this neoliberal rhetoric of the ‘entrepreneurial economic actor’, men and women are being addressed as gender-neutral employee entrepreneurs and as market entities in the context of labour policies (Eckart, 2004:35) This has created the framework for a so-called ‘adult worker model’ (Lewis, 2000), which, having activated the male workforce, seeks the valorisation of female human resources (Ludwig, 2006:57). The redistribution of gainful employment is limited to a redistribution of labour carried out between women (Weiss, 2008:54–55) based on social categories such as educational achievement, ability and ethnicity (Rüling, 2007:24)
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