“My child is my job now” – Care, work and careers of mothers with disabled children in the Norwegian welfare state

Abstract

In this article, we investigate how mothers of disabled children in Norway experience the work–family conflict and its impact on their careers, highlighting the role of provision of health and welfare services. We use a qualitative multiple case study of 11 mothers with disabled children. Although Norway is characterized by high labor market participation for women and an emphasis on care policies that support working mothers, we show that mothers of disabled children still experience considerable work–family conflict, creating ill-health and income-related struggles. This conflict is heavily influenced by inadequate support from health and welfare services. However, some of the mothers also highlighted how caring for their disabled children led to growth and new career paths, using their care experiences to craft new careers. Drawing on Fraser’s (2022) concept of the care crunch and a relational perspective on disability, we demonstrate how the social organization of care for disabled children undervalues the care work mothers do and puts disabled children at risk of receiving insufficient and unequal services.