abstract
Women are central in paid and unpaid care work. With a comparative approach, this article studies convergences and divergences in elderly care in Brazil, France and Japan. It examines the forms of organizing and performing care work in terms of social and inter-individual relations. The diversity of social, economic, political and cultural contexts is considered. This article broaches the sexual division of care work and the workers’ subjective relation to their labor, including its emotional aspects. It also takes into account individual characteristics, as well as the professional and personal trajectories of care workers. It shows how gender, race and social class co-construct the workers’ trajectories.
keywords:
Care; International comparisons; Centrality of women’s work; Personal and professional trajectories; Gender; Sexual division of labor