Gender in Informal Caregiving - Introduction

Informal caregivers are typically family members of the individuals in need of chronic or life-long care. They support their loved ones in everyday activities, known as ADLs, such as bathing, dressing, toileting and in that start living a dual life - one of the care recipient and one of themselves, yet conditioned and altered by its alter existence. This dual living generates a great emotional, mental and often also physical burden for the caregivers. As teenagers or young adults we look for ways to quickly move out from parents home and start living on our own. As flatmates or roommates we find it hard to seek for compromises and share our space with others. Finally as boyfriends, girlfriends, partners we are terrified by the idea of losing our own independence and start co-living with a loved one permanently. We all need our space, our freedom and independence. It is universal need for every single human, yet immensely discredited and ignored when it is not our reality we are referring to. It is not surprising that when faced with the illness of our loved one we re-value our needs and priorities. What is shocking however is the lack of understanding from others, in particular politicians and policy makers of the extremely difficult conditions, the reality we begin to learn to live in and the new need of our own; the one to be noticed.