The gender logic and effects of instrument mixes: implementing eldercare policy in Canada

Abstract

Although policy instruments are often conceptualized as technical or neutral tools through which ideas and outcomes are connected, this article focuses on the discursive dimensions of policy instruments in Canada’s eldercare policy to explore their gendered and gendering logics and effects. Using frame analysis, we examine government acts, public reports and policy documents to uncover how different policy instruments at the federal and subnational levels frame caregiving and the caregiver. In doing so, we identify three distinct and contradictory frames–caregiver as resource, caregiver as worker and caregiver as autonomy–and illuminate their effects for gender equality outcomes. By looking at the implementation of eldercare policies in different provinces and across different government levels, we advance a better understanding of the gendered meanings and effects of instruments mixes.