IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/gender/v29y2022i3p758-777.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choreographing social reproduction: Making personal protective equipment and gender during a neoliberal pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Braden Leap
  • Kimberly Kelly
  • Marybeth C. Stalp

Abstract

Feminist scholars explore the gendered aspects of social reproduction within neoliberal contexts where the responsibility for reproducing daily and intergenerational life is shifted onto individuals and civil society groups. Using qualitative data from 665 self‐administered online questionnaires and 78 interviews with individual makers living in the United States who fabricated and distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, we consider the gendered contours of this socially reproductive labor that emerged at the household and community levels in response to a pandemic that has been transformed by decades of neoliberal governance strategies. As makers creatively utilized multiple kinds of labor to provide PPE for others, they both reproduced and subverted gendered inequalities in their households and communities. We draw on the “choreography of care work” literature to develop a conceptual framework for future considerations of social reproduction that highlights how its often ignored intricacies are centrally important to how gendered inequalities are reproduced and/or reworked amid disasters. Like a complex dance that is rewritten and enacted in emergent manners, makers creatively deployed multiple kinds of labor within shifting networks of people, technologies, and institutions to ensure social reproduction during the ongoing pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Braden Leap & Kimberly Kelly & Marybeth C. Stalp, 2022. "Choreographing social reproduction: Making personal protective equipment and gender during a neoliberal pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 758-777, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:3:p:758-777
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12807
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12807
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/gwao.12807?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ilaria Boncori, 2020. "The Never‐ending Shift: A feminist reflection on living and organizing academic lives during the coronavirus pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 677-682, September.
    2. Kate Bahn & Jennifer Cohen & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020. "A feminist perspective on COVID‐19 and the value of care work globally," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 695-699, September.
    3. David Harvey, 2007. "Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 610(1), pages 21-44, March.
    4. Kate Henley Averett, 2021. "A feminist public sociology of the pandemic: Interviewing about a crisis, during a crisis," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 321-329, July.
    5. Rebecca Lund & Susan Meriläinen & Janne Tienari, 2019. "New masculinities in universities? Discourses, ambivalence and potential change," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(10), pages 1376-1397, October.
    6. Gioconda Herrera, 2012. "Starting Over Again? Crisis, Gender, and Social Reproduction among Ecuadorian Migrants in Spain," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 125-148, April.
    7. Colin J. Worby & Hsiao-Han Chang, 2020. "Face mask use in the general population and optimal resource allocation during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Richard J. Petts & Daniel L. Carlson & Joanna R. Pepin, 2021. "A gendered pandemic: Childcare, homeschooling, and parents' employment during COVID‐19," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 515-534, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dide van Eck & Eline Jammaers, 2021. "Chronicles of conflicting care in confinement: Documenting the work experiences of seven ‘patient zeros’," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 735-748, March.
    2. Mou Rani Sarker, 2021. "Labor market and unpaid works implications of COVID‐19 for Bangladeshi women," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 597-604, July.
    3. Andrew Taeho Kim & Matt Erickson & Yurong Zhang & ChangHwan Kim, 2022. "Who is the “She” in the Pandemic “She-Cession”? Variation in COVID-19 Labor Market Outcomes by Gender and Family Status," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1325-1358, June.
    4. Amber N. W. Raile & Eric D. Raile & David C. W. Parker & Elizabeth A. Shanahan & Pavielle Haines, 2021. "Women and the weight of a pandemic: A survey of four Western US states early in the Coronavirus outbreak," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 554-565, July.
    5. Emmanouela Mandalaki & Ely Daou, 2021. "(Dis)embodied encounters between art and academic writing amid a pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 227-242, January.
    6. Baloch, Gohram & Gzara, Fatma & Elhedhli, Samir, 2023. "Risk-based allocation of COVID-19 personal protective equipment under supply shortages," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 1085-1100.
    7. Nattavudh Powdthavee & Yohanes E Riyanto & Erwin C L Wong & Jonathan X W Yeo & Qi Yu Chan, 2021. "When face masks signal social identity: Explaining the deep face-mask divide during the COVID-19 pandemic," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(6), pages 1-15, June.
    8. Auður Magndís Auðardóttir & Annadís G. Rúdólfsdóttir, 2021. "Chaos ruined the children’s sleep, diet and behaviour: Gendered discourses on family life in pandemic times," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 168-182, January.
    9. Anna Maria Górska & Karolina Kulicka & Zuzanna Staniszewska & Dorota Dobija, 2021. "Deepening inequalities: What did COVID‐19 reveal about the gendered nature of academic work?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1546-1561, July.
    10. John Lauermann, 2016. "Temporary projects, durable outcomes: Urban development through failed Olympic bids?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(9), pages 1885-1901, July.
    11. Yuan Liu & Chuyao Liao & Li Zhuo & Haiyan Tao, 2022. "Evaluating Effects of Dynamic Interventions to Control COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Guangdong, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
    12. Thais França & Filipa Godinho & Beatriz Padilla & Mara Vicente & Lígia Amâncio & Ana Fernandes, 2023. "“Having a family is the new normal”: Parenting in neoliberal academia during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 35-51, January.
    13. Danielle Docka‐Filipek & Lindsey B. Stone, 2021. "Twice a “housewife”: On academic precarity, “hysterical” women, faculty mental health, and service as gendered care work for the “university family” in pandemic times," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 2158-2179, November.
    14. Anna Petherick & Rafael Goldszmidt & Eduardo B. Andrade & Rodrigo Furst & Thomas Hale & Annalena Pott & Andrew Wood, 2021. "A worldwide assessment of changes in adherence to COVID-19 protective behaviours and hypothesized pandemic fatigue," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(9), pages 1145-1160, September.
    15. Aspri, Andrea & Beretta, Elena & Gandolfi, Alberto & Wasmer, Etienne, 2021. "Mortality containment vs. Economics Opening: Optimal policies in a SEIARD model," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    16. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max & Cooper, Christine & Tweedie, Jonathan, 2024. "Wealth taxes and the post-COVID future of the state," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Kao-Lee Liaw & Lei Xu, 2013. "Changes in Wage Distributions of Wage Earners in Canada: 2000-2005," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 451, McMaster University.
    18. Nikhil Agarwal & Andrew Komo & Chetan A. Patel & Parag A. Pathak & M. Utku Ünver, 2021. "The Trade-off Between Prioritization and Vaccination Speed Depends on Mitigation Measures," NBER Working Papers 28519, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Bo Zhang & Zhongjie Li & Lei Jiang, 2021. "The Intentions to Wear Face Masks and the Differences in Preventive Behaviors between Urban and Rural Areas during COVID-19: An Analysis Based on the Technology Acceptance Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-15, September.
    20. Ashley B. LeBaron-Black & Jeremy B. Yorgason & Melissa A. Curran & Matthew T. Saxey & Rachel M. Okamoto, 2022. "The ABC-X’s of Stress among U.S. Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Relationship Quality, Financial Distress, and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:29:y:2022:i:3:p:758-777. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing or Christopher F. Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0968-6673 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.