ABSTRACT
This chapter examines whether care work is seen as more natural for women than men in Singapore's nursing homes. It shows how and why healthcare workers (both local and foreign) employed in Singapore's nursing homes negotiate their motivations for becoming nurses with the heavy demands, difficult conditions, and lack of prestige of eldercare work. The chapter examines the idea that care workers are primarily motivated by altruism and have genuine care and emotional connection with their care recipients. Singapore has employed "a cost containment strategy" to manage the rising fiscal concerns in eldercare, while also developing "healthcare technology and the restructuring of healthcare work from skilled healthcare professionals to less skilled caregivers". Immigration policies often exacerbate labor market inequalities by restricting migrants to particular categories of jobs, often for a limited time period, despite migrants' skills, educational histories, and previous class positions in their home countries.
