Grounding responsibilization: Women in the care professions in contracted social services nonprofits

Livnat, Inbar; Almog‐Bar, Michal; Soffer, Michal; Ajzenstadt, Mimi

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2022.102671

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This article is a product of a broad study researching women in the nonprofit sector, which focused on gender, care work and professionalization among women employed in Israeli NPOs. The study’s findings revealed a process of responsibilization and the blurred boundaries between the private and the public, home and work (Livnat et al. , 2023); those women’s experiences of their work environment in an era of welfare state retrenchment and contracting out of social services, (Livnat et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Itzick and Kagan (2017) researched in the Israeli context factors involved in social workers’ intentions to leave the profession and found multiple factors involved, such as autonomy and role ambiguity. Livnat et al. (2023) also sheds light on perceptions and future aspirations for care work professionals NPOs, suggesting that instead of leaving the profession or the nonprofit sector, another solution for their alarming working conditions was being able to initiate their own clinics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Gender employment contradictions in Israeli nonprofit organizations providing social care

Livnat,

Almog-Bar

2024

IJSSP

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PurposeThis article asks how gender, ethnicity and other identities intersect and shape the employment experiences of social workers. During recent decades, governments have contracted social care to for-profit and nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally as a part of the adaption of the neoliberal approach. Most employees in these organizations are women. However, there is a lack of knowledge about women working in social service NPOs and their unique working environments.Design/methodology/approachThis article explores the experiences of women employed as social workers in social care NPOs in Israel regarding intersectionality. 27 in-depth interviews were conducted with women social workers working in social service NPOs. Participants reflected diversity in ethnicity, religion and full-time and part-time jobs. Thematic analysis was used.FindingsThe findings shed light on: (1) the contradiction social workers experienced between the stated values of the social care NPO and those values’ conduct, (2) intersectional discrimination among social workers from vulnerable populations and (3) the lack of gender-aware policies.Social implicationsThe need to raise awareness of the social care sector and governments to those contradictions and to promote diversity through gender-aware policies and practices.Originality/valueThe article suggests a conceptualization describing gender employment contradictions in social care NPOs, discusses how the angle of intersectionality expands the understanding of the complexities and pressures exerted on social workers from minority groups and emphasizes the need for social care NPOs to acknowledge and deal with these contradictions.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Gender employment contradictions in Israeli nonprofit organizations providing social care

Livnat,

Almog-Bar

2024

IJSSP

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“…Working conditions in Israeli NPOs are problematic, to say the least, as demonstrated by the low salaries, low social benefits, and the presence of many part-time positions [40,42,43]. The employee retention rate in Israeli NPOs is two years [42].…”

Section: Npos' Employees Under Contracting Out During Routine and Eme...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Provides Resilience to the Community Resilience Providers?

Livnat

Almog‐Bar

2023

Societies

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The article focuses on employees of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as an essential component of community resilience. Forty women, professionals in the helping professions, were interviewed about their work experiences as employees in social service NPOs. The interviews were conducted from 2019 to 2020, mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand those employees’ perceptions of work conditions, contracting-out of social services, professional community and relationships with co-workers, work–life balance, job satisfaction, and their future plans. The findings present loneliness at work and lacking of a sense of community and a strong sense of mission while facing a challenging environment and work conditions in NPOs. In the discussion, we offer a complementary understanding of solidarity and resilience in NPOs—and we elaborate on the lack of professional “communitiness” and its possible harmful effect on the resilience of wider communities in times of crisis—when resilience is mostly needed. The paper presents NPOs employees as critical actors in producing resilience, hence there exists a need to examine their work environment, job perceptions, and the latter’s contribution to their own resilience.

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Grounding responsibilization: Women in the care professions in contracted social services nonprofits

Cited by 2 publications

References 34 publications

Gender employment contradictions in Israeli nonprofit organizations providing social care

Gender employment contradictions in Israeli nonprofit organizations providing social care

Who Provides Resilience to the Community Resilience Providers?

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