ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the challenge of assumptions by analyzing the relationship between community care policy and the gender structure of caregiving, and by explicating the interaction of policy provisions with the gender structure of family caregiving, which results in heavy dependence on unpaid labor of female family members, and the inequities for women, which result from the current emphasis on controlling costs by restricting supportive services and benefits. The conceptualization of policy options must extend to include the gender structure and the effect of these policies on women who are the spouses, daughters, and other relatives of ill and disabled elderly persons. The social dynamics underlying present policies are rooted in traditional concepts about the family, women, and the responsibility of the State. Most analyses of policy options assume that the policies have been developed and implemented without gender bias. The cost-benefit concerns of policies that would maximize gender justice differ from the present concern with avoiding the institutionalization costs.
