Carework in a Comparative Perspective: Exploring Professionalization Dilemmas Under Different National/Cultural Contexts

Different combinations of intersectional determinants shape social inequalities in care work once we take national and cultural realities in comparison. We argue that any discussion on the future of those inequalities requires attention to those combinations. The paper will address this question taking the Brazilian case as a departure point. National household surveys and Brazilian census will provide background information to explore the frontier between domestic employees and professional care workers profiles. Qualitative fieldwork conducted in Brazil (São Paulo), France (Paris) and Japan (Tokyo) will allow us to compare employment relations and working conditions among care workers in those different socio-cultural contexts. Combining quantitative and qualitative evidences two main issues will be addressed: how professional identities are expressed among care workers and domestic employees, and how commodification of care provision is embedded in different cultural realities, expressing various ways of linking production and reproduction