• Principal Investigator: Dolors Comas-d’Argemir
• Funding: €99,542
• Coordinating University: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
• Principal Investigator at UDC: Raquel Martínez Buján
• Dates: 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021
• Funding Agency: Fondo Supera COVID-19 Santander-CRUE-Universidades Españolas.
• Partner Universities: Universitat de Valencia, Euskal Herriko Universitatea, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidade da Coruña, Universidad de Granada, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Universidad de Murcia and Universidad de Zaragoza

Summary:

The health emergency caused by COVID-19 has shown how fragile the social organisation of care of the elderly and care-dependent individuals is, and the impact on female and male carers, both in the family (unpaid) and in the paid sector.

Our research tries to focus on the impact of this crisis on the economic and working conditions of women and men who care for the elderly and dependent persons: family carers, care service workers, domestic and care workers. We focus on social care (vs health), where there is a large presence of women, many of whom suffer from the effects of the pandemic in unequal and precarious conditions. This sector has not been properly understood in the epidemiological analysis of the crisis, nor has it received appropriate political attention. As a feminised sector, all this has had led to an increase in gender inequality.

This project tries to offer visibility to the social dynamics that have had an impact on the care of the elderly and dependent individuals; in particular, how the COVID-19 crisis has affected a highly feminised sector. The social sector of care was practically ignored during the coronavirus crisis until the dramatic situation of old people’s homes unfolded as a new crisis within the health emergency. Lack of attention to this field has had severe consequences for the elderly and dependent persons, and also for those who care for them (for their health, with unknown medium and long-term after-effects). All this might lead to a change in how care is organised that might have some impact on the institutions and services involved, on the ways of caring and on the economic and working conditions of carers.