Public Policy, Caring Practices and Gender in Health Care Work

Our final paper draws on the evidence presented in this supplement to discuss how policy trends in health care delivery are shaping health care work and health outcomes. As several contributors note, these policy trends have had heterogeneous effects across Canada and in other countries. Nevertheless, all of the cases discussed reveal a pressing need for a gendered understanding of health care policy, as well as of the diverse locations in which the effects of health care policy are experienced. Three central themes in this supplement illustrate the gendered dimensions of health care policies and health care work: the downloading of work from more highly paid workers to less well-paid or unpaid care workers; the link between deteriorating conditions of health care work and shortages of health care workers; and the increased presence of responsibilization and familialism as practices central to health care policy. We consider the Canadian case, where such trends have been more prominent, alongside experiences in Iceland and Finland, where they have been less fully developed, and draw some comparative lessons.