Family caregiving for older adults: gendered roles and caregiver burden in emigrant households of Kerala,India

The Indian state of Kerala leads the demographic transition and characteristically showcases emigration of predominantly male adult children, leaving behind parents, spouses and children. When men emigrate, gendered contexts burden women, especially spouses and daughters-in-law, with caregiving duties including elder care. Employing the social exchange perspective and drawing on in-depth interviews of left-behind caregivers to older adults in emigrant households, we explore reciprocal motives, expectations and perceptions of burden. Findings resonate gendered expectations of care and social sanction that ensure women do much of the caregiving. Daughters-in-law sacrificed careers and endured separation from husbands to transition into caregiving roles, costs borne to effectuate their husband's filial role. Perceived non-reciprocity, unbalanced exchanges and unmet expectations increased perceptions of burden for caregivers. Temporary financial autonomy could hardly alleviate perceptions of burden among women caregivers who perceived emotional and functional support exchanges from husbands, older adults themselves or other family members as supportive.     

The Politics of the Pew: Faith,Liberty, and Authority in a Sydney Church in 1828

This article examines the political implications of the dispute between E. S. Hall and Archdeacon Scott over a pew in St James’ Church in the late 1820s. Beyond the legal questions it raised about the established status of the Church of England in New South Wales, Hall's public protest, conducted every Sunday during the largest regular social gathering in Sydney, was a self‐conscious performance of his wider critique of colonial authority. This episode reveals the symbolic importance of church spaces and the role of religious ideas about authority and freedom in colonial political debate.     

Book Reviews

Understanding the Southern African Crises

Paul Keal, Unspoken Rules and Superpower Dominance. Macmillan, London, 1983, pp.262. $48.00

Roger Hilsman, The Politics of Policy Making in Defense and Foreign Affairs: Conceptual Models and Bureaucratic Politics. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1987, pp.ix,326. $42.50.

Benjamin B. Ferencz, A Common Sense Guide to World Peace. Oceana, New York, 1985, pp. xvi + 112. $US15.00.

United Nations, Department of Public Information, The Blue Helmets: A Review of United Nations Peace‐keeping. United Nations, New York, 1985, pp. 361. $US8.96.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, The History of UNCTAD 1964–1984. United Nations, New York, 1985, pp. 294.$US5.00.

United Nations, Department for Disarmament Affairs, Co‐ordination and World Disarmament Campaign Section, The United Nations and Disarmament: 1945–1985. United Nations, New York, 1985, pp. 166.$US16.95.

Chris Bellamy, The Future of Land Warfare. Croom Helm, London and Sydney, 1987, pp.xv+326. £29.95.

John Prados, The Soviet Estimate: U.S. Intelligence Analysis & Soviet Strategic Forces. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1986, pp.xvi+391. $24.00.

J.W.C. Cumes, The Reconstruction of the World Economy. Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1984, pp. 181 $6.91.

Commonwealth Secretariat, Towards a New Bretton Woods: Challenges for the World Financial and Trading System, Report by a Commonwealth Study Group. Longman for the Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 1983, pp. xii + 148. $ 12.95.

Peter Hayes, Lyuba Zarsky and Walden Bello, American Lake. Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria, 1986, pp.xiv, 529. $14.95.

A.G. Milner and Trevor Wilson (eds), Australian Diplomacy: Challenges and Options for the Department of Foreign Affairs. AIIA Occasional Paper No. 5, August 1987, pp. 90. $4.50.