What are the realities of ‘community care’ – the unpaid care given by hundreds of thousands of women, often in their own homes – for children and adults who are handicapped or chronically sick, or for frail elderly people? Originally published in 1983, this book explores the experiences of such women and the dilemmas which ‘caring’ poses for them. At a time when most women needed to earn money from a paid job, how did ‘carers’ manage to juggle their caring and other domestic responsibilities, and what happened if they had to give up work?

Against a background of government policies which favour care ‘by’ the community, the contributors to this book raise crucial issues for social and economic policy.

Hilary Graham

examines what caring really means and

Clare Ungerson

asks why women do it.

Sally Baldwin

and

Caroline Glendinning

focus on mothers with handicapped children and

Fay Wright

on single adults with elderly dependants.

Alan Walker

highlights the dependencies implicit in caring relationships with the elderly.

Lesley Rimmer

looks at the economic ‘costs’ of care, and

Dulcie Groves

and

Janet Finch

examine the invalid care allowance – a carers’ benefit for which married women can never qualify.

In exploring the domestic sector of welfare, A Labour of Love was a highly topical contribution to the debate both on welfare provision and on the division of labour between men and women at the time.