Thinking about the production and consumption of long-term care in Britain: Does gender still matter?

This article suggests that the literature on care, which originally was hea vily influenced by a gendered perspective, has now taken on other important variables. However, it is argued that if we look at the particular impact of the marketisation and privatisation of long-term care, we can see that g ender is still a useful perspective on the production of care. especially p aid care. The reordering of the delivery of domiciliary care within the 'mi xed economy of welfare' is having important effects on the labour market fo r care and is likely to lead to further inequalities between women, both no w and in old age. The article proceeds to look at the impact of these inequ alities on the consumption of care in old age, particularly by elderly wome n and considers factors that may provide women with the resources to purcha se care and/or pay charges for care. The article argues that gender does st ill matter, but that its impact has to be understood within a context of gr owing inequalities between women, and an analysis that takes account of wid er social and economic relations within kin networks and between generation s.