IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/woemps/v36y2022i4p769-780.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘You Can’t Eat Soap’: Reimagining COVID-19, Work, Family and Employment from the Global South

Author

Listed:
  • Ameeta Jaga

    (University of Cape Town, South Africa)

  • Ariane Ollier-Malaterre

    (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada)

Abstract

This article problematises the assumptions regarding work, family and employment that underlie the World Health Organization (WHO)’s COVID-19 guidelines. The scientific evidence grounding sanitary and social distancing recommendations is embedded in conceptualisations of work as skilled jobs in the formal economy and of family as urban and nuclear. These are Global North rather than universal paradigms. We build on theories from the South and an intersectional analysis of gender and class inequalities to highlight contextual complexities currently neglected in responses to COVID-19. We argue that building on both science and local knowledge can help democratise workable solutions for a range of different work, family and employment realities in the Global South. Finally, we propose a research agenda calling for strengthened North–South dialogue to provincialise knowledge, account for differences in histories, locality and resource-availability, and foster greater local participation in policy formulation regarding sanitary measures and vaccination campaigns.

Suggested Citation

  • Ameeta Jaga & Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, 2022. "‘You Can’t Eat Soap’: Reimagining COVID-19, Work, Family and Employment from the Global South," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(4), pages 769-780, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:4:p:769-780
    DOI: 10.1177/09500170211069806
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09500170211069806
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/09500170211069806?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:36:y:2022:i:4:p:769-780. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.britsoc.co.uk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.