Care in a context of economic crisis. The case of great València

Abstract

The dependence and care work is playing a major role in the academic debate. In the period previous to the current crisis several factors increases the market coverage of the growing needs in terms of care. However, from 2007, with the economic crisis, we have moved toward the de-commodification/refamiliarisation of care, due to high unemployment and austericity policies. The research is based on eleven in-depth semi-structured interviews with key actors of Great València. In this paper we conclude that (a) care carried on domestic sphere is the most common way to cover care needs. (b) Economic and cultural aspects are the main determinants of the type of care coverage. (c) Women are still the mainstay of care in the reproductive sphere and, due to it, they must face the conciliation between employment and family life. The result of this conflict is a negative impact on their presence and employment conditions in the labour market. In addition, (d) the shortage of monetary incomes from a large number of families explains that they were led to leave the market coverage of care. On the other hand, there is an insufficient public services supply. These two aspects have led a shift towards refamiliarisation of care work. In other cases, families have look for cheaper market alternatives, usually in a context of informality, beside the (re)nativisation or return of native women to these paid activities.