Class Differences in Women's Work-Care Reconciliation in Contemporary Leeds

This paper focuses on women's working lives in Leeds, England, where some of the UK's most affluent and most deprived localities are found. The authors compare the work-care reconciliation practices and attitudes of lower and higher educated women, and consider how differences and similarities in these are shaped by local welfare state arrangements and conditions in the local labour market.

The analysis, conducted within the EU- funded FLOWS project, is based on data from a survey of local women and focus group interviews with women who combine paid work with raising young children or looking after old, disabled or sick family members.

While working-class women in the UK have 'always worked', the second part of the 20^th century brought middle-class women's mass entry into the labour force. In some other countries, this process was actively encouraged by state provision of publicly funded care services and other policies to support women's attachment to the labour force while raising young children and/or looking after older family members. In the UK's liberal welfare state, childcare and caring for older, sick or disabled adults have primarily been conceptualised as individual/familial responsibilities and care services are currently provided primarily by market actors, rather than directly by the state. The authors explore the relative importance of the national/local state, cultural preferences and market conditions on women’s working lives, and consider how these shape social inequalities between women in different socio-economic circumstances.