This study examines practices and conceptions regarding caregiving as a female role, both from the psychobiological and historical-cultural perspectives. Data suggest greater participation of women in caregiving tasks. The psychobiological approach is based on the argument of higher female parental investment, which would justify specializations and predisposition to caregiving. The historical-social argument emphasizes the identification with models as basic mechanism for cultural preservation of gender roles. The attempt is to achieve a synthesis that unveils the deep interactions between biology and history, nature and culture, as a starting point for overcoming these already dull dichotomies.
Gender; Family relations; Caregivers; Psychology relation to History; Social history