ABSTRACT
C are work is an act that, for the most part, women do; it is agendered activity. The articles in Part I challenge the genderedconstruction of care by viewing care and its connection with women as a socially constructed phenomenon. The myth that women have a natural capacity and desire to care has proved to further reinforce gender inequalities by disproportionately burdening women with unpaid or low-paid care work (Abel 1990; Hooyman and Gonyea 1995). But what are the processes that led to, and continue to reinforce, the construction of care work around women? The authors in this section attempt to answer this question by looking to history, and particularly to motherhood and fatherhood.
