The multidimensionality of care in remote work: women academics in Chile during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

ABSTRACT The boundaries between paid and care work all but disappeared for women during COVID-19 lockdowns. All realms of life merged into the household while the workload shouldered by women heavily increased. As external support for care vanished, gender orders became obvious as the burden of care was re-established as the personal responsibility of women. Based on fifteen photo-elicited interviews with women academics in Chile who worked remotely during lockdown, this study poses a multidimensional notion of care that captures academic, highly skilled women’s care work in three dimensions: (1) care as assistance (care for others); (2) care as survival (self-care); and (3) care as a symbolic burden in the labour market. The study suggests that these different dimensions of care reveal the articulation of women’s care labour with family, paid and unpaid work, and institutional regimes, contributing to the reproduction of gender inequality.