Género y precarización del empleo y los cuidados: consecuencias de la pandemia para profesoras de educación infantil y primaria en Chile

In Chile there is a progressive precariousness of the teaching profession (Ruffinelli, 2016) aggravated by the current health crisis COVID 19. In this context, the implementation of distance education has had multiple consequences for teachers (Villalobos Muñoz, 2021) and, particularly for women, who must make their teaching function coexist with domestic and care work, complicating the already difficult reconciliation of work and family. On this basis, the aim of the article is to analyze, this article aims to analyze, from a gender perspective, the precarious situation experienced by early childhood and primary education teachers in Chile and, in addition, to know how this situation has worsened in the context of the pandemic. To achieve this objective, a qualitative study was carried out based on semi-structured interviews with nine early childhood and primary education teachers from the Province of Valparaíso. The main results indicate that the already precarious working condition has been aggravated by the lack of material, technical and procedural resources with which they face online teaching. On the other hand, the blurring of borders between the paid world of work and care, as part of the consequences of teleworking, has generated a physical and emotional overload for teachers. Finally, they realize that the management of educational authorities and schools during the pandemic is seen by those interviewed as inconsistent with reality, both by Chilean teachers and students.