Prof Fiona Williams OBE

Overview

I am Professor of Social Policy and, from 1999 to 2005, was Director of the ESRC CAVA Research Group on Care, Values and the Future of Welfare. I now co-direct CIRCLE.

I co-edit Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society. I am a member of the ESRC's Strategic Research Board, the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences, and the Social Policy subpanel in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

In 2004 Fiona Williams was awarded an OBE for services to social policy.

Research Summary

I have written widely on gender, 'race' and ethnicity in social policy, and am currently researching the employment of migrant workers in home-based care in Europe. I am interested in care in contemporary society, including changing family lives and personal relationships, and the possibilities for a political ethic of care. I am also a member of the Timescapes research team.

Teaching

Over the past decade, my PhD supervision has covered qualitative investigations into carers, disability, sexuality, gender and transgender relations, benefit fraud, female asylum seekers, men and child care, and migration. I am particularly interested in supervising cross-national research in migration and care, and in social movements and care.

Publications

Books

Williams, F. (2010) Claiming and Framing in the Making of Care Policies: the Recognition and the Redistribution of Care, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva.
Articles in refereed journals

Williams, F. (2010) ‘Themes and Concepts in Migration, Gender and Care’ in Social Policy and Society, Vol. 9, No. 3.

Williams, F. (2010) ‘Transnationality and Gender: Power, Policy and Otherness’, Introduction: Social Politics, Vol. 17, no. 3, pp 1-3.

Lister, R.; Williams, F. ; Antonnen, A., Bussemaker, M.; Gerhard, U.; Heinen, J.; Johansson, S.; Leira, A.; Siim, B.; Tobio, C.; with Gavanas, A. (2007) Gendering citizenship in western Europe: new challenges for citizenship research in a cross-national context, The Policy Press.

Williams, F. (2004) Rethinking Families, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, London.

Williams, F. (1989) Social Policy: A Critical Introduction. Issues of Race, Gender and Class, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp.236

Reports
Williams, F., (2009) Claiming and Framing in the Making of Care Polices: the recognition and the redistribution of care, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva.

Chapters in Books

Williams, F. (2010) ‘Race, Welfare and Community Care : A Historical Perspective’, in P. Alcock and M. Powell, reprinted in Welfare Theory and Development , London, Sage.

Williams, F. (2010) ‘Claims and Frames in the Making of Care Policies’ in Eds. S. Razavi and S. Staab Political and Social Economy of Care: Rethinking Care in a Development Context, Geneva, UNRISD

Williams, F.. and A. Gavanas (2008) 'The intersection of child care regimes and migration regimes: a three–country study', in: H. Lutz (ed) Migration and Domestic Work: a European perspective on a global theme, Routledge.

Williams, F. (2008) ‘Empowering parents’ in Anning, A. and Ball, M. Learning from the Sure Start: Improving Services for Children and Families, London, Sage ISBN 978-1-4129-4822-7.

Williams, F. (2008) ‘Culture and Nationhood’ in Alcock, P., Erskine, A., May, M. and K.Rowlingson, The Students Companion to Social Policy, Third Edition, Oxford, Blackwell, pp 146-152, ISBN 978-1-4051-6901-1.

Williams, F. (2003) Contesting 'race' and gender in the European Union: a multi-layered recognition struggle, in: B. Hobson (ed) Recognition Struggles and Social Movements: Contested Identities, Power and Agency, Cambridge University Press.

Forthcoming
Williams, F. (2010) ‘The Transnational Political Economy of Care and a Global Ethic of Care’ in R. Mahon and F. Robinson The Global Political Economy of Care: Integrating Ethics and Social Politics, Vancouver, UBC Press.

Journal Articles

Williams, F.. Tobio, C. and Gavanas, A. (2009) ‘Migration et garde des enfants à domicile en Europe : questions de citoyenneté’, Cahiers du Genre (France), May, No. 47, pp.20.

Williams, F. (2008) ‘The Challenge of Gender and Multiculturalism: Re-examining Equality Policies in Scandinavia and the European Union’, Introduction: Social Politics, Spring; 15; 1-4.

Williams, F. (2005) ‘A good enough life: developing a political ethic of care’ in Surroundings: a journal of politics and culture Issue 30, Summer 2005, pp 17-32

Williams, F. (2004) (with S Roseneil) ‘Public Values of Parenting and Partnering: Voluntary Organisations and Welfare Politics in New Labour’s Britain’ in Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society, 1(2) pp. 181-216

Williams, F. (2004) ‘What matters is who works: commentary on the Green Paper Every Child Matters’, Critical Social Policy 24 (3) pp. 406-427

Williams , F. (2001) 'In and beyond New Labour: towards a new political ethic of care'. Critical Social Policy, 21(4) pp.467-493.

Journal Editorship
Williams, F. co-editor of Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Oxford University Press

Personal Links

See Fiona's webpage here.