Kontakt 2024, 26(1):89-95 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2024.016

Gendered impact of caregiving on older nonmedical healthcare workersSocial Sciences in Health - Original article

Marie Pospíšilová ^*, Alena Křížková

Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

Background: The paper deals with older workers and the issue of combining informal care for family members with paid employment, which is increasingly important in the light of socio-demographic changes in society - namely demographic ageing and the lengthening of working life. The topic is highly relevant to the group of non-medical healthcare professions studied, as they combine care in the professional and domestic spheres. Purpose of the research: The aim of the research is to point to gender inequalities in how the combination of formal and informal care impacts the work and personal spheres of (pre-) retirement-age nonmedical healthcare workers.

Methods: The article is based on the analysis of 36 qualitative interviews with nonmedical healthcare workers in Czechia. We used thematic analysis and approached the issue of (un)doing gender from a social constructivist perspective.

Results: The results suggest that women and men in nonmedical healthcare professions face differences in relation to the double care burden in older age. Women are more likely to be affected by a combination of dual care, which has implications for their workload, financial remuneration, etc., whereas men are under greater pressure to perform at work, which becomes increasingly difficult at older ages.

Conclusion: Gendered character of double care has implications for gender inequalities in mental and physical health and for the gender pension gap.

Keywords: Ageing; Gender; Nonmedical healthcare workers; Nursing

Grants and funding:

This article was written with the support of grant project no. 21-08447S of the Czech Science Foundation titled ‘Digitalisation on the Labour Market: Challenges, Opportunities and Inequalities for Older Workers’. This output was supported by the NPO “Systemic Risk Institute” number LX22NPO5101, funded by European Union – Next Generation EU (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, NPO: EXCELES).

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: August 23, 2023; Revised: January 30, 2024; Accepted: March 6, 2024; Prepublished online: March 13, 2024; Published: March 15, 2024  Show citation