Challenge:
In Western societies, women have historically been assigned to activities related to care and reproduction, which take place in the private sphere and have little social and economic recognition. This has important effects on women’s lives as they spend more time than men to productive and reproductive work and, therefore, have less time for other activities of personal enjoyment. This has negative consequences on health, whether physical, mental or emotional, and on the quality of life. In order to redistribute care work to a certain extent, Barcelona City Council has various programs and policies to help and support family caregivers.
Answer:
Through the commission of the Department of Gender Transversality of the Barcelona City Council, Spora has carried out a study to find out the self-perceived health of women family caregivers and the effect of the programmes of care redistribution, from which they benefit, on their health (specifically the Home Care Service (SAD), the Respir programme and the Temps per Tu programme). This study has also served to learn about the distribution and management of care work given in the domestic sphere, as well as the strategies developed by women family caregivers to improve their well-being and their health.