Abstract
Introduction
The article raises, from a feminist perspective, how the growing crisis of care, accentuated in neoliberal states, generates an absorption of this problem by women, especially when it comes to dependent adults.
Objective
To describe the daily life of informal caregivers of dependent adults, in addition to the effects that this work has had on their lives.
Method
Qualitative research, framed as critical and feminist, which has included the semi-structured interview and participant observation of the daily life of 7 informal caregivers in Santiago de Chile, between 2018 and 2019.
Results
A complex web of activities was identified that make up the daily life of care work, which produces a great level of overload on caregivers. In addition, multiple effects were evidenced in their daily lives, which include those of a personal, family, and economic nature.
Conclusions
The sexist social organization of care produces gendered occupations as its effect, evidencing the socio-historical character that generates precarious daily lives for women who undertake care work for dependent adults in an informal way as a political and not personal problem.
Keywords:
Gender-Based Division of Labor; Activities of Daily Living; Disabled Persons; Gender Perspective; Feminism; Occupational Therapy