Home care during the pandemic: France and Brazil

The pandemic has changed protocols for elderly in-home care work. International comparisons provide intriguing outcomes once we compare contexts where public policies have not been similar. Our paper analyses the results of individual interviews and focus groups carried out with home care workers in France and Brazil. The impact of the pandemic, as perceived by these workers, discloses differences in the institutionalized forms of labor protection in the two countries, while indicating unexpected convergences regarding risk exposure and degrading working conditions. In Brazil there have been no policies towards in-home paid care, which is not even recognized as a profession. In France home care workers have not been considered a priority profession for the purchase of masks in pharmacies. It is the family and its members who dictated home care policies during the pandemic, and sometimes home care associations as in France. For instance, in Brazil, families have forced home helpers to stay at work all week to avoid contamination on public transport; in France, associations have provided studios near the workplace for home care workers arguing the same reasons. The paper will explore differences and convergences in working conditions faced by in-home care workers, based on the analysis of two countries that differs on labor market regulations, welfare regimes and care policies vis-à-vis the Covid -19 crisis.