Domínguez-Amorós, M., Aparicio-Chueca, P., & Maestro-Yarza, I. (2025). A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Studies on Care and Gender: The Effects of the Pandemic. Social Sciences, 14(6), 319. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14060319
Abstract:
This study systematically reviews the academic literature on unpaid care work during and after COVID-19, emphasizing gender dimensions. Using Web of Science (WOS) and SCOPUS, it analyzes 75 empirical articles published between 2020 and 2024 in English and Spanish. The selection focused on studies addressing unpaid care from multiple perspectives, particularly family dynamics. Quantitative analysis examined frequencies and percentages, while qualitative analysis explored content depth. Results reveal a dominant biomedical perspective on care, often neglecting emotional well-being and broader socioeconomic impacts. The present study also identifies a lack of critical reflection on care’s gendered nature and unequal caregiving responsibilities. Women, historically burdened with care duties, faced increased domestic demands during the pandemic, due to school closures and limited services, exacerbating gender inequality and reducing workforce participation. A bibliometric analysis of research on COVID-19, gender, and social care highlights limited collaboration, with studies fragmented across research groups and lacking international co-authorship. This study calls for governmental and international initiatives to foster cross-border collaboration, enabling a more comprehensive understanding of care that integrates emotional and socioeconomic aspects alongside health concerns. This would promote a more inclusive and reflective approach to unpaid caregiving research.
Camps Calvet, Clara, Bonet-Martí, Jordi, & Bernat Molina, Ignasi (2024). The social reproduction crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic in Barcelona: Potentialities and limitations. Critical Criminology, 32(2), 171–184. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-023-09739-z
Abstract:
The outbreak of the social pandemic brought to the foreground the crisis of social reproduction afflicting our societies. However, this new visibility of the importance of care work and the emergence of mutual support networks was not a sufficient condition for the politicization of the reproductive sphere to take place, contrary to what happened during the 2008 crisis. This paper aims to comprehend the reasons why such politicization did not occur by means of a case-study carried out with four focus-groups made up of representatives of mutual support networks established in Barcelona to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable groups of the population. The achieved results show the limits of social reproduction theory to explain politicization theories, as it does not sufficiently acknowledge the state’s agency.
Camps-Calvet, Clara, Bonet-Martí, Jordi, & Ortiz Monera, Rosa (2024). Social reproduction theory and critical state theory after the COVID-19 syndemic. Capital & Class, 48(2), 287–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/03098168241234103
Abstract:
This article offers an insight into the challenges faced by social movements when attempting to politicize the crisis of reproduction which took place during the COVID-19 syndemic in the city of Barcelona. The analysis provided here expands on the analysis of social reproduction theory and, more broadly, on Marxist feminist approaches. In fact, one of the factors accounting for the absence of politicization during the syndemic is the type of responses given to the emergency by the authoritarian neoliberal state, which were beyond those envisaged by the 10th thesis theorized by Marxism-Feminism and social reproduction theory. Thus, in this article, we argue that this situation is an opportunity to establish a dialogue between critical state theory and Marxism-Feminism to understand how the agency of the state may condition the social reproduction of life and block the emancipatory possibilities of care and the social struggles regarding the crisis of care, complementing thus the10th thesis of Marxism-Feminism.