Caring for older people: a gendered practice

Abstract

This article discusses how ethnomethodology and conversation analysis can contribute to the feminist study of caregiving. Interviews with caregivers of older relatives with disabilities were analyzed using a detailed conversation and membership categorization analysis within an ethnomethodological framework. The interviews were treated analytically as interactional encounters, useful to document instances of identity production and moral versions of oneself as a caregiver. The study describes some instances of the moral and relational universe in which caring practices are embedded, exploring the discursive construction of caring. Caring duties were shown to be bound to kin relationships, but significant gendering was evident in the attribution of caring responsibilities.