Abstract
Care, such as that received by a child in their early formative years, is a profoundly influential and essential element of human life. Yet care is often overlooked and undervalued in ways that are detrimental to carers and society more broadly. The law has an instrumental role in constructing and perpetuating the invisibility of care, with the societal perception of care being shaped both by the legal responses to care issues and by the deliberate choices to not intervene. This dissertation will illuminate the links between childcare burdens and the law and critique the lack of support for carers.
This dissertation argues that New Zealand's current legal responses to care fail to challenge the gendered nature of care and fail to meet the needs of culturally diverse modern families. To facilitate a cultural shift in how care is viewed, this dissertation argues legal responses to care must strike a careful balance between promoting choice so families can provide care in ways that are most rewarding for them and catalysing a shift towards more care friendly workplace cultures and social norms.