All over the world health care has been characterised by hierarchies in terms of knowledge, skill mix and socio-economic background of providers across different levels. Historically, the medical and paramedical professions have been broadly divided into curing and caring roles. These roles are mediated by gender, class, and caste. Increasingly the trend has witnessed feminisation of caring work at the middle and lower levels of the work hierarchy in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. In recent years there has been an increasing trend of casualisation of the health care workforce especially at the middle and lower levels. As a result, women workers who occupy these rungs have faced job insecurity, poor wages, lack of social security, and sexual harassment at the workplace. The paper draws upon primary and secondary evidence to explicate gendered hierarchies and resultant inequalities in the health care workforce.

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Gendered Hierarchies and Exclusion in Healthcare Work in India: Intersections of Class, Caste, and Religion

  • Rama V. Baru

摘要

All over the world health care has been characterised by hierarchies in terms of knowledge, skill mix and socio-economic background of providers across different levels. Historically, the medical and paramedical professions have been broadly divided into curing and caring roles. These roles are mediated by gender, class, and caste. Increasingly the trend has witnessed feminisation of caring work at the middle and lower levels of the work hierarchy in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. In recent years there has been an increasing trend of casualisation of the health care workforce especially at the middle and lower levels. As a result, women workers who occupy these rungs have faced job insecurity, poor wages, lack of social security, and sexual harassment at the workplace. The paper draws upon primary and secondary evidence to explicate gendered hierarchies and resultant inequalities in the health care workforce.