University of British Columbia Press Feminist Ethics and Social Policy: Towards a New Global Political Economy of Care

As national borders become more permeable, women are increasingly travelling from poor to rich countries to take up jobs as care workers. The struggle to maintain a healthy work-care balance in Western nations is creating a care deficit in the developing world. This volume links ethics to the social politics of care by examining the implications of the feminization of migrant labour and the shortcomings of social policy. From Canada to Sweden and from Korea to Japan, renowned and emerging scholars reveal that a truly feminist ethics of care must be grounded in the concrete lives of real people working in transnational webs of social relations. Review An outstanding volume. A good deal of literature explores the topic of care, but it has been difficult to bridge a feminist ethics of care with social policy. This timely book takes on the challenge and does so deftly and with depth. - Kate Bezanson, author of Gender, the State, and Social Reproduction: Household Insecurity in Neo-liberal TimesThis is a wonderful book that makes a strong contribution to the study of global issues. Combining the theory on the ethics of care with recent findings on the transnationalization and commodification of care work, it looks particularly at the migration of care workers from poor countries of the global South to rich ones in the global North. - Virginia Held, author of The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global From the Back Cover As national borders become more permeable, women are increasinglytravelling from poor to rich countries to take up jobs as care workers.The struggle to maintain a healthy work/care balance in Western nationsis creating a care deficit in the developing world. This volume linksethics to the social politics of care by examining the implications ofthe feminization of migrant labour and the shortcomings of socialpolicy. From Canada to Sweden and from Korea to Japan, renowned andemerging scholars reveal that a truly feminist ethics of care must begrounded in the concrete lives of real people working in transnationalwebs of social relations. About the Author Rianne Mahon is the CIGI Chair in comparative social policy at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University. Fiona Robinson is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University.Other contributors: Christina Gabriel, Olena Hankivsky, Hironori Onuki, Ito Peng, Joan Tronto, Yuki Tsuji, Fiona Williams