Feminine care: An ontology of care?

Femininity occupies a particular place in Western conceptions of nursing care. This article examines the ontological dimension of this association. Drawing on a semiotic observation, the notion of “feminine care” is subjected to a phenomenologically oriented analysis aimed at identifying the conditions under which it is constructed in common understanding and at interpreting it as a narrative. This approach leads to considering care as a broader phenomenon than “feminine car”, the latter narrowing the very meaning of care by grounding it in a largely mythical origin. A hermeneutic reading, oriented toward the construction of an alternative narrative, makes it possible to envisage an evolution in the ontology of care and, consequently, to advance knowledge by opening up the epistemology of the field of care in a broader and more rigorous manner.