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Towards ending the silence: working women caring for children with chronic illness

Vickers, Margaret and Parris, Melissa Anne 2005, Towards ending the silence: working women caring for children with chronic illness, Employee responsibilities and rights journal, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 91-108.

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Title Towards ending the silence: working women caring for children with chronic illness
Author(s) Vickers, Margaret
Parris, Melissa Anne
Journal name Employee responsibilities and rights journal
Volume number 17
Issue number 2
Start page 91
End page 108
Publisher Springer New York LLC
Place of publication New York, NY
Publication date 2005-06
ISSN 0892-7545
1573-3378
Keyword(s) employment
caregiving
chronic illness
disability
work–home conflict
Summary This paper presents stories from women who work and care for a child with a significant chronic illness or disability. The purpose of this paper is to move towards ending the silence on their lives. A three-phase emergent research design responds to the question: What is life like for a full-time worker who is concurrently the primary carer of a chronically ill child? This paper considers the theory of Silencing the Self (Jack, 1991) in relation to the emergent themes of “Otherness” and “Doing it All.” As in Jack’s study, these women also engaged in silencing of the self. However, unlike the respondents in Jack’s study, these women did not demonstrate feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness for the future, nor were they alone in contributing to their silence. Indeed, many experienced silencing behaviors from others around them, and many rallied against the silence, not accepting that their burden should continue. Consideration of Jack’s theory is made to point out the distinctions between the women in this study and Jack’s study, and analytical commentary is provided to demonstrate the relevance of this analysis in light of the current debates surrounding the Work–Home Conflict and the rising levels of informal care provided by women in our communities.
Language eng
Field of Research 150305 Human Resources Management
HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal
Copyright notice ©2005, Springer Science+Business Media, Inc
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30009120

Document type: Journal Article
Collections: School of Management and Marketing
Higher Education Research Group
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Created: Mon, 13 Oct 2008, 15:51:42 EST