Who Cares for the Caregivers? A Phenomenological-Existential Analysis of the Female Experience in Marital Relationships

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the social construction of female identity based on the relationships between gender, care, marriage, and subjective experiences of overload. It starts from the understanding that the roles historically assigned to women were constituted by sociocultural processes that associated the feminine with the responsibilities of care, maintenance of daily life, and dedication to others, producing impacts on personal, family, and professional trajectories. This is an integrative literature review, grounded in a feminist and phenomenological-existential perspective, articulating contributions from authors such as Simone de Beauvoir, Michelle Perrot, Elena Gianini Belotti, Silvia Federici, and bell hooks, as well as contemporary studies on domestic work, family relationships, and women's mental health. The literature analysis allowed the organization of the discussion into three thematic axes: (a) the historical construction of female care, understanding the social legacies and the processes of subjective constitution of women; (b) the woman as caregiver in marriage, considering gender expectations and relational patterns that underpin the unequal division of responsibilities; and (c) female overload, its impacts on subjective suffering, and therapeutic possibilities aimed at re-signifying women's experiences. The studies analyzed show that, despite social transformations and new configurations of women's trajectories, cultural structures remain that link women's identity to caregiving, favoring the overlapping of roles and the experience of conflicts between autonomy, desire, and social expectations. It is concluded that understanding the female experience implies recognizing both the historical and relational determinations that permeate becoming a woman and the unique meanings constructed by women in their own life trajectories.