ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine the position of women-dominated professional groups in home care, one of the welfare services provided by the Finnish welfare state. They focus on professional projects as collective mobility projects. The position of women’s professional projects in the context of the Nordic welfare states challenges the taken-for-granted assumptions on the gendered terms of professional projects. Home care is an interesting case for the authors study because it transcends traditional institutional boundaries within the welfare state system. The formation of a welfare service, like home care, is a historically and institutionally situated process that is culturally embedded and associated with state tradition. The roots of modern home care in Finland are in the welfare policies of the 1940s. It is fair to assume that in the long run, the new curricula tailored for integrated home care reshapes and challenge occupational as well as institutional boundaries in home care.
