Chronic Illness and Matters of Care in Pandemic Times: The Experiences of Women in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

For many living with chronic illness, COVID-19 is a compounding health crisis. Although a few studies have focused on the experiences of those living with chronic illness, this is the first to prioritise the voices of women living with chronic illnesses during the pandemic. Engaging Puig de la Bellacasa's (2017) writings on 'matters of care', this paper draws upon interviews with 13 women living with (their own or others) chronic illness to reveal multi-spatial and temporal understandings of care, from self-care to the everyday acts of care by family, friends and strangers, to changing understandings of care alongside shifting governmental policies. In so doing, this paper highlights the varied ways women living with chronic illness made meaning of risk and vulnerability during the various stages of the pandemic, and how the pandemic shifted material, embodied and affective ways of knowing care. It also reveals the women's experiences of care as powerfully shaped by intersecting systems of oppression, marginalisation and discrimination. Underpinned by a feminist ethic of care, this paper amplifies the lived experiences of chronically ill women, reconsiders what we might have (un)learnt about care during the pandemic and calls for care-based approaches as a way forward for future crises.

Keywords: care; chronic illness; pandemic; women.