Professor Alison Koslowski

Event details

Lecture title: "Sharing the caring. What is holding us back?"

Venue: King Khalid Lecture Theatre, Hill Square, Edinburgh

17:00 - Arrival

17:30 - Lecture Start

19:00 - Drinks Reception - A small drinks reception will follow the lecture. All guest are welcome to attend.

Lecture abstract

Sharing the caring can transform how families work and how we relate to one another in all parts of life.

However, cultural and policy practices stop us from sharing as equal partners, contributing to a crisis in care.

What is holding us back when it comes to redressing this persistent care gap?

About the speaker

The interconnections between gender equality, the labour market, family policy, and caring practices are of long-standing theoretical and empirical interest to me.

These interconnections are sites rich in opportunity for challenging prejudice. In particular, much of my writing has focused on fathers and family leave policy. I very much enjoy working in international collaborative team projects and then bringing home a comparative perspective to inform policy in Scotland.

Recent publications include a co-edited book Parental leave and beyond: recent international developments, current issues and future directions with Policy Press. I am one of the editors of the annual International Review on Leave Policy and Research, a compendium of leave policy information for 45 countries.

An advocate of statistical analysis as a core component of the feminist scholar’s toolkit, this has led to my working this year with the European Institute for Gender Equality, linked to their work supporting the new EU Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers. I am also a co-editor of Families, Relationships and Societies, a relatively new journal exploring family life, relationships and generational issues across the life course. My interest into caring practices extends into the self-care of a yoga practice and lots of swimming.