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Frame of the 1983 screen adaptation.

Many years ago, in a trade union meeting of rural women from several regions of the Cantabrian coast, we learned from a group of Mapuche Indians about their work in the fields, and they so happened to mention, among others, their valuable role as carers. Cultural differences between our guests and us became evident: the Mapuche women could not understand why our young children spend much of the day in nurseries, and why our elderly end their lives in geriatric homes. Someone attempted to shed some light on the growing complexities of modern European society, where in order to maintain a certain standard of living both partners in a household need to work outside the home, being thus left with little time for caregiving (apart from other obvious considerations, such as the right to employment). (more…)