Abstract

ESQUIVEL, Valeria  and  PEREYRA, Francisca. The labour conditions of care workers in Argentina Reflections based on the analysis of three selected occupations. Trab. soc. [online]. 2017, n.28, pp.55-82. ISSN 1514-6871.

The analysis of care-related occupations has acquired significant relevance in the feminist agenda of the last years. These occupations - mainly concentrated in the health and education sectors as well as in domestic service -are highly feminized and generate employment opportunities for many women. Nonetheless, they exhibit relatively poor working conditions, since care is usually associated to supposedly feminine abilities, socially undervalued as "real work". At the same time, these poor labor conditions, especially meagre salaries, put in question the quality of care services provided. This article, based on the Argentinean case, proposes a comparative analysis of a selected group of care occupations, which include nurses, kindergarten and primary teachers, as well as domestic workers. Even when these occupations share certain vulnerabilities associated to their care content, their labor conditions present significant variations. Based on this situation, the main objective of this paper is to deepen in the understanding of the factors that mitigate or reinforce the social and economic devaluation of care-related occupations. By doing so, the article seeks to reflect on some key aspects that could be approached by public policy in order to improve the labor situation of these workers, and thus, the quality of care services provided.

Keywords : Gender; Labor conditions; Care occupations; Domestic service; Nurses; Teachers.

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