Care Obligations Research Articles

Gender Inequalities in Employment of Parents Caring for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in China: Cross-Sectional Study.

The increasing need for child care is placing a burden on parents, including those with children with autism. The aim of this study was to examine the employment status of Chinese mothers and fathers with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as to investigate the factors that affected their employment decisions. An online national survey was completed by the parents of 5018 children and adolescents with ASD aged 2-17 years (4837 couples, 181 single mothers, and 148 single fathers). The dependent variable was employment status-whether they kept working or quit to take care of their child. The independent variables were those characterizing the needs of the child and the sociodemographic characteristics of the family. The employment rate of mothers with children and adolescents with ASD was 37.3% (1874/5018), while 96.7% (4823/4988) of fathers were employed. In addition, 54.3% (2723/5018) of mothers resigned from employment outside the home to care for their children, while only 2.8% (139/4988) of fathers resigned due to caring obligations. Mothers' employment was positively associated with their single marital status, lower educational level, and having assistance from grandparents. Having the grandparents' assistance was positively associated with fathers' employment. Gender inequalities in employment exist in China. Mothers caring for children with ASD had lower workforce participation than fathers. More female-friendly policies and a stronger gender equality ideology would be of benefit to Chinese society.

GLOBALIZATION'S DOUBLE EDGE: ASSESSING ITS IMPACT ON WOMEN

The duple outcome of globalization has had a compelling sway on women all across the globe as it offers prospects as well as complications. On the one hand, today’s women now have more options to contribute through work, access to education, and healthcare which is a result of improved economic opportunities derived from globalization where technology disseminates ideas to share with the world, empowering women to establish and confront the world for their rights but with the uninterrupted gender-based exploitation, with the forced low remunerations accompanied by the ambiguous employment in some specific sectors like manufacturing. Furthermore, the deconstruction of social safety nets brought about by the neoliberal policies that accompanied globalization has increased the care obligations placed on women which hinders admittance of their access to economic opportunities, which makes women's experiences with the current phenomenon of globalization more complex and context-specific, which demand a detailed and comprehensive evaluation to ensure the fair distribution of its positive outcomes by minimizing its negative effects. This study analyses the impact of globalization on women in the underdeveloped and developed nations. It is a noticeable fact that globalization positively supports East Asian countries by providing more opportunities that generate economic prosperity but also results in inequality and exploitation, specifically for females and children living in less or least developed areas. Because of the reduction in public services, women in these areas often experience low earnings, unfavorable working conditions, and an increase in household duties. According to this study, globalization tends to uphold unfair labor practices and discriminatory gender norms even when it can give women access to the workforce and financial independence so there is no doubt in the fact that, Gender inequality and economic development both go hand in hand in developing countries, where women are more likely to be exploited and have lower levels of economic engagement.

‘Mum Added You’ Managing Transnational Aged Care Arrangements Through Family WhatsApp Groups

ABSTRACTIncreasing global migration and (im)mobilities are affecting the provision of aged care in transnational families. Such families rely on digital communication technologies like WhatsApp to manage and maintain aged care obligations across borders. This study investigates the role of WhatsApp family groups in enabling transnational families to manage transnational aged care from a distance. I draw on interviews with three transnational family constellations with members in the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. The study finds that WhatsApp family groups create a virtual home where Zimbabwean transnational families can plan, organise and deliver care to their ageing parents. However, managing transnational aged care through WhatsApp family groups can also pose problems, especially for migrants pressured to remit. Furthermore, gendered assumptions of care and asymmetrical power relationships entrenched in families are reinforced. The study contributes to the literature on transnational care and new technologies, providing a Zimbabwean perspective on co‐presence and mediated aged care practices.

Failure to care despite legal personhood for the environment

This paper explores two concepts of recent interest to Keebet von Benda-Beckmann, including notions of personhood as expressed in the law and diverse felt obligations of care. As with Keebet, we are interested in how both interrelate with legal pluralism. Both concepts enabled us to build on relational themes that have been gaining traction in social theories, and to ask about the extent to which legal orders differ in their approach to embedded legal personhood. In this relational context, the perception of care as a natural course of action (2021, 3) might or might not be extended to non-human entities and beings. We extend Keebet’s exploration of care and legal personhood by comparing two cases where international efforts have been directed towards better environmental care, the argan forests of Morocco and the open ocean as part of the “Blue Economy”.

A survey-based study: assessing inpatient attending perspectives on teaching learners, feeling valued, and symptoms of burnout

BackgroundPhysician burnout is rising, especially among academic physicians facing pressures to increase their clinical workload, lead administrative tasks and committees, and be active in research. There is a concern this could have downstream effects on learners’ experiences and academic physician’s ability to teach learners on the team.MethodsA 29-question RedCap survey was electronically distributed to 54 attending physicians within an academic learning health system who oversaw the General Medicine inpatient teaching services during the 2022–2023 academic year. The aims were to assess this cohort of attending physicians’ experiences, attitudes, and perceptions on their ability to effectively teach learners on the team, feeling valued, contributors to work-life balance and symptoms of burnout, Fisher’s Exact Tests were used for data analysis.ResultsResponse rate was 56%. Attendings splitting time 50% inpatient / 50% outpatient felt that team size and type of admissions model affected their ability to effectively teach learners (p = 0.022 and p = 0.049). Attendings with protected administrative time felt that non-patient care obligations affected their ability to effectively teach the learners (p = 0.019). Male attendings and attendings with ≤ 5 years of General Medicine inpatient teaching experience felt less valued by residency leadership (p = 0.019 and p = 0.026). 80% of attendings experienced emotional exhaustion, and those with > 10 weeks on a General Medicine inpatient teaching service were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion (p = 0.041). Attendings with > 10 weeks on a General Medicine inpatient teaching service and those who were a primary caregiver were more likely to experience depersonalization (p = 0.012 and p = 0.031). 57% of attendings had reduced personal achievement.ConclusionsInstitutions should seek an individual and organizational approach to professional fulfillment. Special attention to these certain groups is warranted to understand how they can be better supported. Further research, such as with focus groups, is needed to address these challenges.

An ambition at a crossroads: Transiting out of the game in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria

Thousands of youths play in amateur and semi-professional clubs in Nigeria with the hope of achieving a professional contract or transnational migration through football. For the majority, however, the social and spatial mobility that is hoped for is never realised. This means that they would have to terminate their pursuit and transition into alternative adulthood pathways. Through semi-structured interviews with former players, this study explored how athletes in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria experience and navigate the termination process and transition out of the game. The findings revealed that career termination may develop in a non-linear trajectory as athletes consider their chances of a professional career, age and the obligations of adulthood and intergenerational care. Generally, the athletes navigated the process without significant support from their clubs or other institutions. However, they made use of the social capital and relationships built from their involvement in football (e.g. going into coaching) or leveraged familial ties to secure alternative livelihood opportunities. While participants in this study showed a proactive quest narrative to rebuild their lives away from football, some reported experiences of a chaos narrative among former colleagues, especially manifesting in alcoholism. The findings of this study underscored the need for frameworks for dual career planning for athletes alongside their athletic education and making provisions for psychosocial support for players transitioning out of the game.

Improving Medical Student Access to Nutrition During the Core Surgery Clerkship.

The rigorous demands of medical education create circumstances that can make it challenging to maintain a healthy diet. Evaluations from students at an urban medical school in the northeast U.S. regarding their surgery clerkship highlighted the difficulty of finding healthy snacks or meals between operations and patient care obligations. In response, we implemented the Nutritional Wellness Initiative, a pilot program designed to offer accessible, healthy snacks to medical students during their surgery clerkship. We conducted a 3-month pilot program at three hospital sites and surveyed participants. Responses were compared to controls who completed their surgery rotation before initiation of the pilot program. Both groups emphasized the importance of having access to food during the workday for student wellness, with less than 50% of students in either group eating lunch daily during the surgery rotation. Of students who participated in the pilot program, 63% used the provided snacks at least once per week. This model offers one approach to improving student access to nutritious snacks during the busy surgery workday. To improve our program going forward, we have engaged the Director of Lifestyle Medicine and Wellness in the Department of Surgery to help optimize nutritional delivery and to create student education resources regarding healthy snacking habits and choices.

Liability for Violation of the Obligation of Care in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Poland

The problem of non-fulfilment or improper fulfillment by parents (persons who replace them) of childcare responsibilities exists in all countries, regardless of the form of government, state system, and income level of the population. Ukraine has been in the process of integration with the European Union for a long time, so it is useful to study the foreign legislative approach to the regulation of responsibility for the violation of these obligations. The purpose of the article is to study the Polish experience of establishing criminal liability for non-fulfilment of child care obligations. In the research dogmatic, systemic-structural, statistical, historical-legal, formal-legal methods were used. Attention is paid to the legislation of the Republic of Poland, which provides for the right and duty of parents to care for and raise children. The genesis of the criminal law regarding responsibility for violation of these duties in the Criminal Code of 1932, 1969, and 1997 is given. Statistical data on the number of criminal proceedings and persons convicted of this criminal offense (2009–2020) are summarized. The peculiarities of the structure of the crime composition provided for in Art. 210 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Poland were studied; objective and subjective signs. The analysis was carried out on the basis of the doctrine of Polish criminal law and the practice of courts of general jurisdiction, in particular the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland. The practice of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland was used. Based on the results of the research, conclusions were formulated regarding objects of criminal law protection; objective and subjective side and subject composition. The differentiation of criminal liability in case of causing death to the victim was noted. The legislator also provided in cases of this crime the possibility of notifying the competent family court about the expediency of deprivation or limitation of parental or guardian rights in case of committing a crime to the detriment of a minor or in complicity with him. The separation of an independent structural section (subsection) in the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which includes criminal offenses against the family, as well as the improvement of criminal legal measures against persons who have committed such crimes, is supported.

What if it is not just an additional income? Poverty risks of non‐standard employment histories in Germany

AbstractWhile the poverty risks associated with transitions to and from different forms of non‐standard employment (NSE) have been studied extensively, poverty research on NSE histories remains fuzzy. Therefore, this study focuses on persons with NSE histories whose earnings contribute significantly to the household income, asking to what extent they are exposed to income poverty risks during their main career phase and examining the role of employment, family and sociodemographic characteristics. Employment histories were observed over 10 years using German Socio‐Economic Panel data from 2001 to 2020. A sequence cluster analysis identified four NSE clusters with increased poverty risks, namely, those with increasing and permanent low‐part‐time work, those who were mainly temporary agency‐employed or had long episodes of fixed‐term employment. Multivariate regressions considering employment‐specific, care‐related and sociodemographic characteristics revealed a network of cumulative disadvantages related to gender, occupational position, care obligations and structural disadvantages for those clusters.

An Analysis of Legal Duty of Care for Social Platforms in Telecom Froud Matching Recommendations: A Perspective Paper

Based on the traditional four-element theory and the discussion of social platform duty, this paper analyzes the source of the obligation of recommending matching social platforms involved in telecommunication network fraud. Through case analysis, this paper analyzes whether the subjective fault and objective measures of social platform cases fully fulfill the duty of care. On the negation of the reasonable duty of care on the crime of refusing to fulfill the management obligation, subjective and objective methods are used to discuss whether the platform constitutes the crime of refusing to fulfill the management obligation. The result of the study has revealed the reasonable obligation of care involved in telecommunication network fraud involving recommending matching social platforms so as to urge the relevant departments to strictly supervise such platform cases and the platform to fully fulfill the duty of care in form and substance.

Social License, Mine Closure, and the Exploration Geologist

Editor’s note: The aim of the Geology and Mining series is to introduce early career professionals and students to various aspects of mineral exploration, development, and mining in order to share the experiences and insight of each author on the myriad of topics involved with the mineral industry and the ways in which geoscientists contribute to each. Abstract This paper describes the potential value that can be gained when exploration geologists, early in the project life cycle, contribute to aspects of project development that have historically been outside of their purview. Increasingly strong societal pressures are being directed toward exploration and mining to ensure (1) an enduring social license to operate is in place and (2) closure and postclosure mine liabilities are fully addressed and funded. These actions are consistent with the professional and ethical obligation of caring for human and ecological well-being over both the short and long term. The roles and responsibilities of exploration geologists are evolving as a result. A singular focus on searching for and assessing the nature of ore deposits from a technical perspective has expanded to include (1) contributing to building the foundation for a social license to operate and (2) capturing increasing amounts of data and information relevant to the full mine life cycle, up to and including the closure and postclosure phases of activity. These activities are additional to the traditional geologic role of the exploration geologist and will further enhance the value of an exploration project, despite the rare transition of an exploration target to an operating mine. This expanded role is critical for aligning industry and social values, strengthening trust in the mining industry, and enhancing the appeal of the mining industry as a desirable career option.

Analisis Pengaruh Motivasi dan Tingkat Pendidikan terhadap Kepatuhan Wajib Pajak

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Utilization of Smartphones and Attitude Regarding Their Use at the Workplace by Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The use of personal smartphones in healthcare settings is widespread, with nurses often integrating these devices into their profession's practices. This study addresses the utilization of and attitudes toward smartphone use among nurses in the workplace. This study uses a descriptive cross-sectional design and includes 258 nurses from various departments in a tertiary care teaching and research hospital in India. Data was collected using Google Forms (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, United States) through a socio-demographic questionnaire and two scales: "Utilization of Smartphones at Workplace" and "Attitude Regarding Smartphone Use at Workplace." The findings indicate that a significant proportion (64.3%) of participants use their smartphones for less than an hour at the workplace. Notably, a substantial majority (78.7%) agree that employers should implement a policy regarding smartphone use. Additionally, 34.1% use their smartphones for personal reasons for less than an hour, with 24.4% specifically engaging in social media use with a statistically significant difference (p <0.05). The study finds an enormous gap in nurses' smartphone use, with a greater emphasis on personal and social media activities than professional responsibilities. Establishing a collaborative regulatory framework is essential for aligning smartphone use with patient care obligations and ensuring a balance between possible benefits and risks.

‘It is normal, that is, difficult’: Care obligation and solidarity in Balkan-Swiss families during the COVID-19 pandemic

‘It is normal, that is, difficult’: Care obligation and solidarity in Balkan-Swiss families during the COVID-19 pandemic

Unravelling the tensions: exploring the interplay of paid care work, family obligations, and transnational care among Zimbabwean migrant care workers in the UK

ABSTRACT An increasing number of studies have examined the impact of migration on reconciling familial care obligations with demanding paid care work. However, much of this research focuses on women who employ migrant care workers and ignores the experiences of migrant care workers balancing their jobs with their own familial responsibilities. As a result, little is known about how migrant care workers navigate local contexts, form families, and manage work and childcare in destination countries while maintaining commitments at home. This paper explores the family dynamics and transnational lives of Zimbabwean migrant care workers in the UK. It draws on qualitative interviews with 10 participants to elaborate on the additional challenges they face in reconciling paid care work with localized and transnational family care. The analysis highlights that migrant workers must simultaneously respond to the care demands of their families and employers, often causing tensions as gendered care expectations are challenged. To manage these difficulties in balancing work and family, Zimbabwean care workers employ various strategies that sometimes strain familial relationships. This study provides insight into the intersection of migrant care workers’ paid labour and familial care obligations across borders.

The lucky and unlucky daughter: Gender, land inheritance and agrarian change in Ratanakiri, Cambodia

AbstractIn many agrarian societies, women come to own land, and people secure care in old age through land inheritance. The social norms guiding inheritance shape gendered, generational and class‐based relations of power in rural areas, and intra‐family land rights can be lost when inheritance norms shift. In Cambodia's northeastern Ratanakiri province, rapid agrarian change over the past decade—including the expansion of land grabs, cash cropping and Khmer in‐migration—is transforming decision‐making around inheritance. Based on a large sample of qualitative interviews and focus groups carried out in 2016 and 2020 with Indigenous and Khmer communities, we focus on the ways in which intergenerational and gendered obligations of care are being reconfigured as land scarcity and inequalities within rural areas become more pronounced. We argue that social norms around land inheritance are in flux, with a proliferation of diverse practices emerging including a shift from matrilineal to bilateral inheritance amongst some Indigenous families, the deferment of marriage and inheritance decisions due to a lack of land and parents taking on debt to buy land and secure care in older age. These changes are reconfiguring gendered and generational identities in relation to land and have potentially negative consequences for land‐poor families, in particular, for poor Indigenous women. These changes are symptoms of a larger ‘crisis of care’ in rural communities.

Intimate liminality in Spain's berry industry

AbstractSpain's berry industry relies on the agricultural labour of both local and seasonal migrant workers. A significant part of this migrant workforce comprises Moroccan mothers who leave their children with relatives in order to perform this wage labour. The bilateral recruitment regime favours the employment of Moroccan women with children for this labour to ensure that workers return home at the end of the harvesting season. Drawing on multi‐site ethnographic research in Spain and Morocco, this study revealed the effects of this bilateral labour regime on the intimate lives of migrant workers. We argue that the geopolitical prescriptions of this labour migration regime, along with the working and living conditions of migrant workers in Huelva, result in experiences of intimate liminality. We examined these experiences by exploring: (1) how the role of female workers as mothers becomes liminal as transnational labour agreements marginalise and outsource care obligations, (2) how governmental neglect of migrant workers' occupational health exposes them to reproductive health risks and (3) how this neglect places them in a liminal space in terms of access to healthcare, and (4) how, despite their liminality, migrant workers contest precarious conditions through everyday solidarity practices. We advance a feminist approach to liminality, emphasising the importance of an embodied, intersectional, and multiscalar perspective.

The Shifting Stress of Working Parents: An Examination of Dual Pandemic Disruptions—Remote Work and Remote Schooling

Working remotely at least some of the time has long been seen as promoting a better integration of work and care obligations, even though prepandemic research is mixed as to the extent to which parents benefit emotionally from remote work. We exploit dual social experiments in schooling and work spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic to understand any stress-reducing effects of working from home under different school-closing state policy contexts. The pandemic led to an unprecedented shift to (and subsequent away from) remote and hybrid work but also to the implementation of various containment policies, most notably school closures driving a shift to remote learning that were put into effect to different degrees across U.S. states. Drawing on parents’ data from a U.S. nationally representative panel survey of workers who spent at least some time working from home since the pandemic onset, we use mixed-effects models to examine whether and in what ways cross-state and over-time variations in school closure policies shape any stress-reducing impacts of remote/hybrid work. Results show that when schools were not mandated to close, remote/hybrid work largely reduces parents’—especially mothers’—stress. However, an opposite pattern emerges in the face of closing mandates. These patterns are especially pronounced among white mothers and are not observed among nonparents.

Transitions from Long-Term Unemployment to Employment

As labour market research has shown, social networks heavily impact the likelihood of gaining employment. In Germany, factors such as low qualifications, illness, age over 50, immigrant background, language deficits, and care obligations, particularly when combined, hinder job transitions and induce long-term unemployment. Nevertheless, some long-term unemployed individuals can secure jobs and forgo social benefits, seemingly against all odds. To investigate the transition-to-work process and its relationship with information, network compositions, and individual agency, we conducted a qualitative survey supplemented by problem-centred biographical interviews, employing software-based network tools. The results revealed that adopting a process-oriented approach was crucial for understanding the utilization of networks to address long-term unemployment. To encourage future network approaches in investigating labour market transitions, three key aspects appear valuable. First, the development of individual agency within stable living conditions, the contribution of alteri within the network, and information transfer for labour market orientation, including factors contributing to translating information, motivation, and orientation into employment activities. This three-step analysis moves beyond traditional approaches examining factors such as network density and the frequency of interactions or simply distinguishing strong from weak ties, by emphasising relational diachronic perspectives and respecting individual life course trajectories.

The Right to (Not) Appear: A Conversation on Institutional Obligations and Ethics of Care in Researching Illiberalism

As other papers in this special issue highlight, researchers of far-right movements have always been faced with the need to carefully balance visibility and invisibility to protect both their academic and personal selves. In this conversation, we share our experiences of what happens when preoccupations with dissemination and impact occlude the need for the right of research and researchers not to appear. This right touches upon a series of ethical questions and obligations that extend beyond simply our formal legal obligations to funding agencies and employers. As scholars arguing for a situated and participatory ethics have argued, ethical obligations must always be attuned to the affective entanglements that impact (in every sense of the word) both research subjects and researchers themselves, and that unfold often in unexpected fashion. How, then, can we reconcile such situated ethics and an ethic and culture of care with institutional obligations, and the requisites of an academic career? The conversation forum presented here draws on multiple exchanges the four authors had over the course of 2023 to 2024, edited for continuity and clarity.