Community nurses in palliative care in Kerala: Underpaid, overworked and vulnerable care workers
By: Neetha, N. and Thresia, C. U
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: The Indian Journal of Labour Economics Description: 68(4), Oct-Dec, 2025: p.1399-1416.Subject(s): Palliative care, Care work, Health policy, Gender and care work
In:
The Indian Journal of Labour EconomicSummary: Women as care workers/community workers in state-run-schemes are noted across India and in many developing countries. The state does not qualify them as workers, given the nature of work and the short-spell engagement. The labour intensive work that these workers undertake are often trivialised as ‘soft’ and ‘unskilled’ work. The poor payment and working conditions of these workers are justified based on these assumptions. The gendered normative notion that the women have inherent capabilities of ‘caring’ without much technical skill often legitimise such exploitation, invisibility and undervaluation. Kerala’s palliative care initiative operated as a state-run-scheme has gained global attention as it offers possibilities for extending care to the entire population. Community nurses are the most important cadre in Kerala’s palliative care programme. The paper explores the contributions of community nurses and their gendered working conditions and work relations in the programme. The data were collected as part of a larger study of women health workers in the palliative care initiative in four different public sector institutions in the primary care arena covering urban, rural and coastal areas in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. The multiple methods employed to collect data include key informant and in-depth interviews, and a few case studies, apart from observation and informal discussions to explore the different dimensions of women’s palliative care work and the gender inequalities surrounding their work and life.-Reproduced
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41027-025-00587-9
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 68(4), Oct-Dec, 2025: p.1399-1416 | Available | AR138515 |
Women as care workers/community workers in state-run-schemes are noted across India and in many developing countries. The state does not qualify them as workers, given the nature of work and the short-spell engagement. The labour intensive work that these workers undertake are often trivialised as ‘soft’ and ‘unskilled’ work. The poor payment and working conditions of these workers are justified based on these assumptions. The gendered normative notion that the women have inherent capabilities of ‘caring’ without much technical skill often legitimise such exploitation, invisibility and undervaluation. Kerala’s palliative care initiative operated as a state-run-scheme has gained global attention as it offers possibilities for extending care to the entire population. Community nurses are the most important cadre in Kerala’s palliative care programme. The paper explores the contributions of community nurses and their gendered working conditions and work relations in the programme. The data were collected as part of a larger study of women health workers in the palliative care initiative in four different public sector institutions in the primary care arena covering urban, rural and coastal areas in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. The multiple methods employed to collect data include key informant and in-depth interviews, and a few case studies, apart from observation and informal discussions to explore the different dimensions of women’s palliative care work and the gender inequalities surrounding their work and life.-Reproduced
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41027-025-00587-9
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