Meanings, Negotiations, Precarization: Marks in the Trajectories of Carers of Elderly People

Abstract

This article sought an approximation with the vital and occupational trajectories of women who were carersof elderly people. This study has a qualitative design. There were eight carer participants from the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, RS. Interviews were conducted in an open and virtual modality. An analysis of the empirical data was performed using the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) paradigm from which categories of analysis emerged such as 1) trajectories and identities; and 2) meanings, recognitions, and profession precariousness. The results showed ambivalences and resignifications associated with the work and their identities as a “I-careworker”, under a circuit of presences and absences, crossed by a growing precariousness of care work. The study highlights the importance of tensioning social and gender representations associated with care work, going against the standardization of emotions and behaviors.

Keywords

• working women
• caregivers
• life history traits