The Social Reorganization of Care during the Pandemic: Well-being, Community, and Gender
Abstract
This article examines the social reorganization of care in Spain during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its impact on the deepening of gender, class, and origin-based inequalities. Based on the RESCUPAN research project–which includes in-depth interviews and focus groups with female caregivers and social organizations across various regions–the study analyzes the return of many previously outsourced care tasks to the domestic sphere. It reveals an increase in unpaid care work, disproportionately shouldered by women, and underscores the crucial role of community networks in supporting vulnerable populations. The findings point to the fragility of public care systems and the urgent need for structural policies that acknowledge, value, and fairly redistribute care responsibilities. The pandemic is thus revealed not only as a health crisis, but also as a crisis of vital sustainability and social reproduction.
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