Critical Absences and Unresolved Inequalities in the Social Care in Panama: Two Scenarios and a Pandemic

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the context of the domestic work “bed inside” carried out by foreign and indigenous women in Panama, focusing on the impacts that this context has experienced during the pandemic. To do so, we use an analysis framework that makes possible to visualize two critical scenarios in the current social care, where the employer and the employee are located. The results indicate that the conditions of domestic servitude in which these workers find themselves are not resolved exclusively with fairer labor regulations for this occupation, but rather depend on transformative measures on critical absences and unresolved inequalities in the current social care.