A spouse as before: Family care boundaries and the question of gender
Thomas, Julie
A spouse as before: Family care boundaries and the question of gender - 2020.
70
The question of “gender boundaries,” proposed by Toni Calasanti and Mary Elizabeth Bowen (2006) to examine spousal caregiving, is further explored here in order to study the delimitations of family care given to an elderly person with increasing disabilities who still lives at home with a partner. Within the framework of an interview-based survey, examining care boundaries and positions within family relationships has allowed us to better understand the experience of spousal and family caregivers. The familial definition of these boundaries seems to be linked to gender, but above all to the maintenance of previous family and marital balances. On the one hand, we will see that the most important boundaries are marital, arranged by the couple around themselves in order to maintain domestic unity “as before,” while delegating certain tasks to their children in a gendered way. On the other hand, the continuation of the marital relationship—being a couple in the same way as before the disabilities—seems to be a priority, and, in practice, it may mean crossing gender boundaries and going against past habits. Gender, however, has a strong influence on the experience of care and the ways of talking about it—rather to the detriment of women.
A spouse as before: Family care boundaries and the question of gender - 2020.
70
The question of “gender boundaries,” proposed by Toni Calasanti and Mary Elizabeth Bowen (2006) to examine spousal caregiving, is further explored here in order to study the delimitations of family care given to an elderly person with increasing disabilities who still lives at home with a partner. Within the framework of an interview-based survey, examining care boundaries and positions within family relationships has allowed us to better understand the experience of spousal and family caregivers. The familial definition of these boundaries seems to be linked to gender, but above all to the maintenance of previous family and marital balances. On the one hand, we will see that the most important boundaries are marital, arranged by the couple around themselves in order to maintain domestic unity “as before,” while delegating certain tasks to their children in a gendered way. On the other hand, the continuation of the marital relationship—being a couple in the same way as before the disabilities—seems to be a priority, and, in practice, it may mean crossing gender boundaries and going against past habits. Gender, however, has a strong influence on the experience of care and the ways of talking about it—rather to the detriment of women.
Réseaux sociaux