ABSTRACT
Women (and some men) enter caregiving jobs in part because they enjoy responding to the needs of others. But at work they often are blocked from attending to the needs of clients or patients because of cost-cutting policies, bureaucratic rules aimed at fulfilling government regulations, and the devaluation of caring. Some care workers respond to this frustrating situation by trying to change the workplace so that it supports caregiving. Among low-status, relatively powerless workers, directly challenging the institution probably would fail and might get them fired. Collective action through a union would be more likely to succeed, but unions typically avoid the issue of giving greater value and pay to the emotional caregiving component of jobs, as Karen Sacks has pointed out (1988).
