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Journal of Family Issues
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The Pivotal Role of Women in Informal Care

Piet Bracke

University of Ghent, Belgium, Piet.Bracke{at}UGent.be

Wendy Christiaens

University of Ghent, Belgium

Naomi Wauterickx

University of Ghent, Belgium

Supporting and caring for each other are crucial parts of the social tissue that binds people together. In these networks, men and women hold different positions: Women more often care more for others, listen more to the problems of others, and, as kin keepers, hold families together. Is this true for all life stages? And are social conditions, among other things bound to the organization of work and family, an essential explanation of these differences? Data from the sixth wave (1997) of the Panel Study of Belgian Households allow us to answer these questions. The results show that women are the glue holding social relations together. They play a central role as friends, daughters, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers throughout all stages of the life course. Similar life commitments do not reduce these gender differences but instead emphasize them even further.

Key Words: social networks • gender • Belgium

This version was published on October 1, 2008

Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 29, No. 10, 1348-1378 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X08316115
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