Com base na análise da relação entre casa e trabalho, e do significado dessa relação para a prática do cuidado, o artigo desenvolve uma crítica aos argumentos de Betty Friedan no livro A mística feminina, entendido como uma irônica continuidade do projeto marxista de reduzir a emancipação das mulheres à obtenção de um emprego fora de casa. Assumindo uma oposição entre cuidado e trabalho, amor e dinheiro, certas feministas renegaram o trabalho doméstico. Entretanto, o movimento organizado das trabalhadoras em domicílio, que luta pelo reconhecimento legal de seu trabalho, tem sublinhado a interconexão entre reprodução social e produção; ao mesmo tempo, teóricos têm questionado a ética do trabalho assentada num paradigma produtivista da vida social.

Based on an analysis of the relation between home and work, and the meaning of this relation for care practices, the article develops a critique of Betty Friedan arguments in the book The feminine mystique, taken as an ironic continuation of the Marxist project of reducing the emancipation of women to getting a job outside the home. Assuming an opposition between care and work, love and money, certain feminists have turned their back on domestic work. However the organized movement of household workers, which campaigns for legal recognition of their work, has underlined the interconnection between social reproduction and production. At the same time, theorists have questioned the work ethic based on a productivist paradigm of social life.

Background: Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity tests are a globally accepted test to assess cellular immunity in vivo. The quality and quantity of the response to these type of tests, varies in different populations. Aim: To study delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity in a group of healthy Chilean elders. Material and methods: Forty two elders (32 male), aged 60 to 76 years old were studied. Multitest-CMI® was applied in the left forearm. This test allows the subcutaneous administration of seven antigens and a glycerin control. Results were compared with those of a group of young adults studied by the authors. Results: Among males there was a mean of 2.7 ± 1.4 positive responses compared with women, that had 1.7 ± 1 positive responses (p= 0.016). The sum of response diameters was 4.2 ± 1.5 and 3.6 ± 1.9 mm in men and women respectively (p = NS). Compared to young adults, elderly women had a lower response to tetanus and diphtheria toxoids and men had a lower response to diphtheria and Proteus mirabilis. Conclusions: Elderly people have a less intense response to delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity tests than young adults. This response must be assessed in each population to account for regional variability. (Rev Méd Chile 2000; 128: 379-86).